The World Health Organization has officially named the deadly coronavirus that broke out from Wuhan in China COVID-19.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the global body, announced the new name at a conference in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon.
He said at the conference that: ‘C-o stands for corona, v-i stands for virus, d for disease – so, COVID.
‘Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 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.
‘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 🚨
"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
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
According to the organization, the word refers to a group of viruses that contains those that cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
Since the outbreak of the deadly virus more than 43,000 people have been infected around the world with a total number 1,018 already dead so far.
