New Delhi (NVI): The new coronavirus, which is spreading and claiming lives across nations, will now be named as COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The acronym COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019, as the illness was first detected towards the end of last year.
“The goal was to avoid stigma,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak, whose epicentre is believed to be China’s Hubei Province, reached a new high today even as Chinese officials said the rate of new infections showed signs of slowing.
The new figures brought the total number of deaths in China to at least 1,113. And the total number of confirmed cases rose to 44,653. Most of the newly reported deaths, 94, occurred in Hubei Province, the heart of the outbreak.
There are 393 positive coronavirus cases outside China, in 24 countries.
The largest outbreak outside China remains in Yokohama, a Japanese port south of Tokyo where a cruise ship has been under tight quarantine for a week now.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said an additional 40 virus cases had been confirmed on board the Diamond Princess as of Wednesday, bringing the total number on board to 175.
