COVID-19 means “China Outbreak Virus.”
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, Similar claims were\xa0also shared on Twitter\xa0here, here and here; on Instagram\xa0here, here and here; on Reddit\xa0here; on Facebook\xa0here; and on Weibo\xa0here., The claim is false; the WHO announced that\xa0COVID-19, which has now killed at least 1,300 and infected nearly 60,000 in China,\xa0stands for “coronavirus disease 2019.”, "We now have a name for the disease and it is COVID-19. And I will spell it, C-O-V-I-D-hyphen-one-nine,"\xa0WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on February 12, 2020. “‘CO’, C-O,\xa0stands for corona, ‘VI’ stands for virus, ‘D’ for disease, so ‘COVID’.”, Daily media briefing on #2019nCoV with @DrTedros https://t.co/rIOrFuLckE, Tedros added that the WHO chose a\xa0name "that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people, and which is also pronunciable and related to the disease.", “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreak," he said., The WHO also tweeted the new name for the disease in this February 12 post: “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" - @DrTedros #COVID19”., 🚨 BREAKING 🚨\n\t\t"We now have a name for the #2019nCoV disease:\n\t\tCOVID-19.\n\t\tI’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19"\n\t\t-@DrTedros #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Kh0wx2qfzk, "According to\xa0WHO\xa0guidelines on “Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Disease,”\xa0geographical locations, peoples names, species/class of animal or food, cultural, population, industry or occupational references and terms that incite fear should be avoided.", Below is a screenshot of the\xa0guidelines:, , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
World Health Organization says COVID-19 means ‘coronavirus disease 2019’ – not 'China outbreak virus' | AFP Fact Check