The deadly coronavirus finally has a name and it is called COVID-19, as mentioned by the World Health Organization. The disease has been mentioned to be as a big threat, however, there is some realistic chance of stopping the disease.
In Covid 19, co stands for corona, vi for virus and d for disease. The number 19 is for the year since the identification of the outbreak took place in 2019, December 31. This name has been chosen so that any reference for location, species of animals and groups of people is avoided and there is no stigmatization.
The earlier name of the virus was 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease by WHO, while China's National Health Commission temporarily called it novel coronavirus pneumonia. A set of guidelines were issued in 2015 by the WHO where naming diseases after places including Ebola and Zika needs to be avoided since the public has a certain image of these places in their minds.
Same goes for animal names, example being the swine flu, which furthermore had a very big impact on the pork industry.
Covid 19 has so far killed more than 1000 people and the infected have now gone up to 44000, making it a global health emergency. There are around 25 countries that are now infected with the virus.
There have been around 400 scientists who partook in the international meeting of two days in Geneva for reviewing the transmission of viruses and vaccinations if any possible.
So far, there is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, and the WHO has asked countries to share data so that further research can be put in the outbreak. There are many countries where teams are working to develop a vaccine, which includes Germany, China, Australia, France as well as Britain, a process which usually takes years.
Image Credit: Vox
