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.'
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).🚨 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
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.
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