World Health Organization announced that the 2019 coronavirus will now be called COVID-19
In a press conference on Tuesday, February 11th, officials from the WHO announced that a name has been chosen for the novel coronavirus that has been causing an outbreak centered in China since December 2019.
WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented the name, COVID-19 and explained its meaning: "CO" for "corona", "VI" for "virus", and "D" for "disease". The name was chosen by a group of health organizations to avoid stigmatizing a specific geographic region or group of people and remain pronounceable in a large number of languages:
Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Organisation 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. β WHO Director General
If you have questions about the COVID-19 coronavirus that you haven't seen answered on our Health Page, get in touch with AGBC and we will find the answer!
π¨ BREAKING π¨
β World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
"We now have a name for the #2019nCoV disease:
COVID-19.
Iβll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine β COVID-19"
-@DrTedros #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Kh0wx2qfzk
