The World Health Organization has formally named the fatal coronavirus that broke out late last year from Wuhan in China “COVID-19”.
This new name was announced by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the global body,
The announcement was made at a conference in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon.
Before the emergence of the name CONVID-19, reporters and tabloids around the world used the name of the city where it started when referring to it.
According to the WHO spokesperson, terms that relate to places, animals or people can be stigmatizing.
Dr Tedros said that: ‘C-o stands for corona, v-i stands for virus, d for disease – so, COVID.
‘‘Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease”.
Moreover, he said, “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising”.
‘It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.’
? BREAKING ?
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
“We now have a name for the #2019nCoV disease:
COVID-19.
I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19″
–@DrTedros #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Kh0wx2qfzk
“Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the @OIEAnimalHealth & @FAO, we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease”-@DrTedros #COVID19
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks”-@DrTedros #COVID19
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020