Why was Coronavirus changed to COVID-19?
Watch our latest video to clear all your confusions about the meaning between Coronavirus & COVID-19.
Viruses and the disease that cause them have different names. People often know the name of a disease, but not the name of the virus that causes it. For example, HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Currently the disease that has spread all over the world is the Coronavirus. When the disease first spread it was called the ‘2019 Novel Coronavirus’ On 11 February 2020, the WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the new name of this disease. ‘COVID-19’ He said that, 'co' in the name stands for corona, 'vi' for the word virus, 'd' for disease, while '19' signifies the year of its initial identification, meaning 2019.
But why was the name changed? According to International rules when a disease is named it must not have the name of any country, animal, religion, etc. This is to prevent the stigmatisation.For example when the name Swine Flu was given, it created a huge impact on the Pork industry. Similarly even the disease Ebola was named after a place in Africa where it spread. This is why the WHO named the coronavirus ‘COVID-19’ so that there is no connection between anything.
The name of a Virus usually depends on its genetic structure, how they spread, etc. This is why the WHO announced that the name of the virus that spreads ‘Covid-19’ is the ‘SARS-CoV-2’The name was given because genes of the virus was similar to that of the SARS virus that spread in China in 2003. So now you won’t get confused between Coronavirus and COVID-19.
