Coronavirus has not just caused chaos in the region, but worldover from China and Singapore to the US, new outbreaks of the deadly disease have been reported. Now, health authorities have renamed “coronavirus” to Covid-19. The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease.
So why have they decide to rename the virus?
One of the main reasons according to the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is that the new name makes no reference to any of the people, places or animals associated with the coronavirus. Mainly to avoid discrimination of a certain race of people.
“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” Tedros told reporters in Geneva. “It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreak.”
On social media sites like Twitter and Weibo, some people have referred to the respiratory illness as the “Wuhan virus” or “China virus.”
The death toll from the coronavirus reached a new high this week despite Chinese officials said the infection rate showed signs of slowing. The death toll from the coronavirus is now 1,113 in mainland China after 97 victims were added today (February 12), compared with 108 the previous day.
More than 60 airlines – including Emirates – have cancelled flights to China, however health experts still recommend travellers to take precautions while on planes.
According to Adrian Hyzler, the chief medical officer at Healix International, “Travel spreads this kind of virus-like wildfire.”
The backstory
The global number of confirmed coronavirus cases is now at least 44,138, with the vast majority of cases in mainland China and at least 1,100 people have died.
CNN reports that there at least 510 confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus in more than 25 countries and territories outside mainland China. Two people have died outside of mainland China from the virus — a 44-year-old Chinese man in the Philippines, and a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong.
