The World Health Organization has announced that the official name for the disease caused by coronavirus is Covid-19.
"We now have a name for the disease and it's Covid-19," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
The name comes after the death toll of the virus exceeded 1,000, while tens of thousands of people have been infected.
The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to. The virus itself is designated as SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee for Virus Taxonomy. Researchers have called for the official name, Covid-19, to be avoided.
"We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people, which is also pronounced and related to the disease," the WHO chief said.
?Having a name is important to prevent the use of other names that may be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also serves as a standard format for use in any future outbreaks of the virus. ?
The name was formed by the combination of the words "corona", "virus" and "disease" and number 19 was set for 2019 when it appeared.
At the moment, there are more than 42,000 confirmed cases across China and the death toll has surpassed that of the Sars epidemic in 2002-2003. On Monday, 103 people died in Hubei province.
Scientists from around the world are meeting in Geneva to discuss ways to combat the further spread of the virus.
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is still a chance to improve the condition caused by the disease. He praised the measures taken by the Chinese authorities, which he said were "slowing the spread to the rest of the world."
