COVID-19 naming

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease and virus were sometimes called "coronavirus", "Wuhan coronavirus", or "Wuhan pneumonia".[1][2][3][4][5]

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) tentatively named it "2019-nCoV", short for "2019 Novel Coronavirus", or "2019 Novel Coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease". This naming was based on the organization's 2015 guidelines for naming novel viruses and diseases, avoiding the use of geographic locations (such as Wuhan), in part to prevent social stigma.[6][7][8]

On 11 February 2020, the WHO named the disease COVID-19 (short for coronavirus disease 2019), and they named the causative virus SARS-CoV-2 (following SARS-CoV). WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that CO stands for coronavirus, VI for virus, and D stands for disease, while 19 stands for the year that the outbreak was first detected.[9][10]

Chinese virus

From January to March 2020, US President Donald Trump repeatedly described the virus as the "Chinese virus".[11] In March 2020, the president abandoned the term, telling Fox News "we shouldn't make any more of a big deal out of it".[12]

CCP virus

The Epoch Times has reportedly funded right-wing groups promoting the use of the term "CCP virus" to lay blame on the Chinese Communist Party for the pandemic.[13][14] Chinese-born New Zealand sculptor Chen Weiming created a 20-foot statue in Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo, California, depicting China's leader with spike proteins as his hair, naming it "CCP virus".[15]

See also

References
  1. "2nd U.S. Case Of Wuhan Coronavirus Confirmed". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. McNeil Jr, Donald G. (2 February 2020). "Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like a Pandemic, Experts Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  3. Griffiths, James. "Wuhan coronavirus deaths spike again as outbreak shows no signs of slowing". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  4. Jiang S, Xia S, Ying T, Lu L (May 2020). "A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing pneumonia-associated respiratory syndrome". Cellular & Molecular Immunology. 17 (5): 554. doi:10.1038/s41423-020-0372-4. PMC 7091741. PMID 32024976.
  5. Chan JF, Yuan S, Kok KH, To KK, Chu H, Yang J, et al. (February 2020). "A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster". Lancet. 395 (10223): 514–523. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30154-9. PMC 7159286. PMID 31986261.
  6. World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases (PDF) (Report). World Health Organization (WHO). May 2015. hdl:10665/163636. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  7. "Novel coronavirus named 'Covid-19': WHO". TODAYonline. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  8. "The coronavirus spreads racism against – and among – ethnic Chinese". The Economist. 17 February 2020. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  9. "Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it". World Health Organization (WHO). Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  10. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the EU/EEA and the UK – eighth update (PDF) (Report). ecdc. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  11. Lindaman, Dana; Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme (13 April 2021). "Donald Trump's 'Chinese virus': the politics of naming". The Conversation. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  12. Neuman, Scott (27 March 2020). "In Phone Call, Trump And China's President Discuss Coronavirus Pandemic". NPR. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  13. Manavis, Sarah (22 April 2020). "How US conspiracy theorists are targeting local government in the UK". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  14. Keena, Colm (2 June 2020). "Covid-19: Chinese communist party endangered world, says Newspaper". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  15. McGee, Charlie (5 June 2021). "Weiming Chen unveils 'CCP Virus' at Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo". Victorville Daily Press. Retrieved 14 February 2022.


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