We now have a name for the disease and its Covid-19," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.It comes after the death toll from the virus passed 1,000. Tens of thousands of people have been infected.The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease, Ghebreyesus, announced at a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.
Dr Ghebreyesus called on the world to fight the new virus as aggressively as possible. The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to, rather than the latest strain. The virus itself has been designated SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Researchers have been calling for an official name to avoid confusion and stigmatisation of any group or country.
Meanwhile according to the Health Ministry, GOI latest updates-
Universal screening for all flights from Singapore and Thailand besides Hong Kong and China is already ongoing at earmarked aero-bridges. The screening of passengers is now on in all 21 airports, International Seaports and border crossings.As of now 1818 flights and 1,97,192 passengers were screened so far at 21 Airports. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is extending all the possible support to the States/UTs in order to combat the situation arise due to Novel Coronavirus.
9452 persons are presently under community surveillance in 32 States/UTs. The containment and prevention activities are being taken up on the utmost priority. All the states are continually strengthening their rapid response teams to counter any eventuality.1510 samples have been tested and 1507 samples were found negative except for 3 samples which had tested positive already from Kerala.