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Thursday, March 19, 2020, 23:02
WHO warns against mislabeling coronavirus
By Xinhua
Thursday, March 19, 2020, 23:02 By Xinhua

In this Jan 30, 2020 photo, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (right) and WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan attend a press conference in Geneva. (FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

GENEVA/LONDON/LAUSANNE - A senior official of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against mislabeling the novel coronavirus and called for joint efforts to fight COVID-19.

It's really important that we be careful in the language we use, lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus.

Michael Ryan, Executive director of WHO's health emergencies program

"Viruses know no borders, and they don't care your ethnicity or the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank," Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO's health emergencies program, said at a news conference on Wednesday in response to some US politicians calling the novel coronavirus a "Chinese virus".

ALSO READ: Ministry condemns US' 'Chinese' virus labeling

"It's really important that we be careful in the language we use, lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus," Ryan said, noting that "this is just something we need to all avoid."

He gave an example of the HINI influenza outbreak in 2009, saying that the pandemic "originated in North America, and we didn't call it the North American flu."

Meanwhile, the official called for solidarity and joint efforts to combat the disease. "This is a time to move forward together to fight this virus together, there is no blame in this," he noted.

READ MORE: Neither 'Wuhan virus' nor 'Los Angeles virus'

According to the latest statistics from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, the tally of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached over 218,000 and spans 158 countries and regions.

Countries across the world must take a comprehensive approach to fighting the pandemic of the COVID-19 disease and isolate, test and trace as many cases as possible, the WHO said.

To suppress and control the epidemic, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace,.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general

“To suppress and control the epidemic, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

READ MORE: 'Test, test, test': WHO chief's coronavirus message to world

“If they don’t, transmission chains can continue at a low level and then resurface once physical distancing measures are lifted,” he added. He said the test and trace strategy “must be the backbone of the response in every country”.

Tedros also said that to speed the search for potential therapies and drugs for COVID-19 infection, the WHO and its partners are organizing a multi-country study to analyze and compare some as yet untested treatments.

“This large international study is designed to generate the robust data we need to show which treatments are the most effective,” Tedros said. “We have called this study the solidarity trial.”

With the world facing an escalating challenge from the disease, "it's also an unprecedented opportunity to come together as one against a common enemy," WHO wrote on its Twitter feed on Wednesday. 






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