WHO announces official name of virus causing Covid-19
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the virus causing the Covid-19 outbreak, replacing the previous name 2019-nCoV.
Accordingly, the virus that causes Covid-19 (Corona virus disease) is called SARS-CoV-2 (Corona virus 2 causes severe acute respiratory syndrome).
Viruses are named based on their genetic structure to facilitate the development of diagnostic tests, vaccines and drugs. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is responsible for naming viruses.
The name SARS-CoV-2 was chosen because the virus's genetic makeup is similar to the coronavirus that caused the SARS outbreak in 2003. However, the two viruses are different, ICTV said.
Regarding the name of the disease Covid-19, WHO announced: This is the name given based on previous guidelines with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
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| SARS-CoV-2 virus (formerly known as 2019-nCoV). |
WHO and ICTV have been working together on naming the new coronavirus and the disease it causes.
However, WHO also said that, from a risk communication perspective, using the name SARS for the new virus could cause unnecessary fear for some segments of the population, especially in Asia, which was most severely affected by the SARS epidemic in 2003.
Therefore, it is possible to use the name of this virus as “Covid-19 Virus” or “Covid-19 Virus” when communicating to the public.
However, neither of these names is intended to replace the official name of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, as agreed with the ICTV.
Documents published before the virus was officially named will not be updated unless necessary to avoid confusion.
