WHO announces new name for 2019 novel coronavirus: COVID-19

The World Health Organization on Tuesday announced that it now has a name for the 2019 novel coronavirus illness that has afflicted thousands since its outbreak in China in late December: COVID-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019.

The WHO had initially designated the illness 2019-nCoV, then added "ARD" to the name, standing for "acute respiratory distress" (or disease).

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the new name in a press briefing.

"CO stands for Corona, VI stands for Virus, D for Disease," Ghebreyesus said.

"Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the OIE [World Organization for Animal Health] and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization], 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," he said.

"Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks," he added.

???? BREAKING ????

"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

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020

At the same briefing, Ghebreyesus said that the first vaccine targeting the novel coronavirus could be available in 18 months.

Over 42,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, most of them in China, where the illness first broke out in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province in December last year. — BM, GMA News