WHO comes up with a name for coronavirus disease. It is COVID-19

NEW DELHI: WHO comes up with a name for coronavirus disease which has left hundreds dead and thousands infected.

WHO tweeted, "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"

"A virus can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action. If the world doesn't want to wake up and consider this enemy virus as Public Enemy number 1, I don't think we will learn from our lessons," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director-General of WHO.

According to the latest situation report, so far 1017 deaths and 42 708 confirmed cases have been reported from China alone.

WHO had declared Coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency.

“Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans,” stated WHO.

Most common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing, said WHO.

Yesterday, it was reported that a girl student who was India’s first positive case of coronavirus in Thrissur was recovering well. Her condition was stable, officials said.

The girl who had returned from China’s Wuhan was kept in isolation in a hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.

“The blood test result of the first patient from Thrissur, from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) testing centre at Alappuzha, shows a negative result. But we need confirmation from the NIV at Pune,” a senior medical officer had said.

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