The deadly coronavirus, originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has finally got an official name ‘Covid-19’ by the World Health Organization (WHO). The UN health agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the name in Geneva on February 11, reports AFP.
At a press conference in Geneva, WHO Chief Tedros said, ‘We now have a name for the disease and it’s Covid-19.’ Tedros said that ‘co’ stands for ‘corona’, ‘vi’ for ‘virus’ and ‘d’ for ‘disease’, while ‘19’ stands for the year 2019, as the virus was first identified on Dec 31 last year in Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus now.
Previously the virus was given the name ‘2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease’ by WHO. And China’s National Health Commission was temporarily addressing it as ‘novel coronavirus pneumonia’ or NCP.
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To mention, the virus has killed as of on February 10 at least 1,016 people, infected more than 43,101 people and spread to at least 27 countries or territories with the WHO declaring the situation a global health emergency.
WHO chief Tedros voiced concern calling the virus a ‘very grave threat’ for the world while addressing scientists at the first international conference on combating the virus earlier on Tuesday February 10.
Nearly 400 scientists are taking part in the two-day long international meeting in Geneva called to review how the virus is transmitted and what the possible vaccines are against it. Source : Straitstimes Online
