The World Health Organization has given coronavirus a new name in order to prevent people feeling ‘stigmatized’.
Yes, because the first thing a global health authority tasked with preventing a mass deadly virus outbreak should be concerned about is political correctness.
The coronavirus has been officially named ‘COVID-19’ because according to the WHO, “We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people.”
“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” the organization added.
The name change is in line with the WHO’s official statement when they first declared coronavirus to be a global emergency, which warned countries against any actions that would “promote stigma or discrimination” and asserted that maintaining the “international traffic” of people was essential and should not be interfered with.
"Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks"-@DrTedros #COVID19
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
Respondents to the name change on Twitter weren’t impressed:
“Damn, I was going to name ChinamanNastyVirus-20,” commented one.
“Wait so avoiding stigma is more important than saving lives??” asked another.
“At this age, people are just gonna refer to it as coronavirus or that virus from China bcos they kept eating the fvcking bats,” remarked another user.
Source: Summit.news
