When naming the latest coronavirus variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) skipped the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet that just-so-happens to have the same spelling of a certain tyrannical world leader’s name.

On Friday, news broke that scientists and world leaders have grown increasingly concerned about the “Omicron” variant, prompting New York to call a state of emergency and the U.K. to restrict travel from several African countries. Given that the variant names jumped from “Mu” all the way to “Omicron,” skipping “Nu” and “Xi” respectively, people on Twitter speculated that the WHO tinkered with the order so as not to offend Chinese communist dictator Xi Jinping.

The dictator’s name is pronounced “Chi” while the Greek letter Xi is pronounced Ksi.

According to WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris, the organization skipped the letter Nu so that people would not confuse the variant with the word “new” and skipped the letter Xi to avoid stigmatizing people who may have that surname. The statement said:

It went from mu to mmicron – jumping both nu and Xi. Nu the reasoning was people would get confused thinking it was the New variant rather than a name and Xi because it’s a common surname and we have agreed naming rules that avoid using place names, people’s names, animal, etc., to avoid stigma.

The World Health Organization’s excuse to avoid common surnames does not wash when considering that the name “Mu” is actually a common Chinese surname.

My China Roots noted:

Mu is a common last name found among Overseas Chinese communities around the world. In fact, ‘Mu’ is the transliteration of several different Chinese surnames. Its meaning varies depending on how it is spelled in Chinese, and which dialect it is pronounced in.

The WHO has been placating China since the beginning of the pandemic by either failing to hold them accountable for unleashing the virus on the world or outright covering for the Communist country. As Der Spiegel reported in May of last year, German intelligence strongly believed that Xi Jinping personally asked the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to delay key warnings about the Chinese coronavirus.

Xi’s conversation with the WHO allegedly took place in January 2020; Tedros did not declare a pandemic until March 11 of that year.