The director- general of the global body Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced the coronavirus being renamed as COVID- 19 at a conference in Geneva.

The coronavirus has first been identified in the Wuhan city of China in the late December and has infected more than 43,000 people since then and had claimed lives of around 1,018.

The World Health Organization says that the virus ought to have a unique moniker as it is just one type of virus.

The coronavirus has been renamed as COVID- 19 where in CO stands for corona, VI stands for virus and D stands for disease and the number 19 stands for the year when the first case has been diagnosed. The first case of the deadly coronavirus has been diagnosed on 31st of December in the year 2019.

The guidelines of the World Health Organization and the World Organization of the Animal Health and also the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations a name has to be found which did not refer to any places such as Ebola and Zika where those diseases have been identified first and the names such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or the Spanish flu must also be avoided as they refer to an entire region or the ethnic groups.

It has also been noted by the World Health Organization that the usage of animal species in the name can also arise confusion just like how the H1N1 virus had been popularly referred as swine flu in the year 2009 and which showed a major impact on the pork industry although the disease was being spread by people and not by pigs.

The names of the scientists who have identified the diseases have also been banned and the terms that spurs fear in the humans such as unknown or fatal have also been banned.

The virus has been started in the Wuhan city of China and has spread across over 25 countries with the World Health Organization declaring it as a global health emergency.

Tedros has warned saying that the virus was a very grave threat, as he had addressed the scientists at the first international conference on combating the virus. He has also added saying that the “viruses can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action.”

The two- day international meeting in Geneva comprised of around 400 scientists discussing about the transmission of the virus and the possible vaccines against it.

The source of the vaccine have also been discussed and is thought to have originated in the bats and has reached the human beings through other intermediary species such as snakes or pangolins.

The World Health Organization says that no specific vaccine or treatment against the vaccine is in existence and that the disease can only be prevented by taking necessary precautions like making sure that your hands are clean all the time by either washing them with soap and water or by using a sanitizer, by covering your nose and mouth while coughing or sneezing, by avoiding close contact with the sick people, by disinfecting the furniture that is frequently touched by people etc.

By Shrithika Kushangi