The novel coronavirus is threatening the whole world. Worldwide solidarity and concerted efforts are desperately needed to contain its spread and to mitigate the negative socioeconomic impact it has brought. Attempts to deflect blame by name-calling and playing around with controversial virus names are naive and futile.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the novel coronavirus as the “Chinese virus”, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo keeps on using the term “Wuhan virus”. Moreover, a White House official allegedly called the virus “kung flu” in front of a Chinese-American journalist. They were oblivious to the fact that the World Health Organization has been referring to the novel coronavirus as “SARS-CoV-2” and named the disease it caused “COVID-19” in February.

The naming of a new virus or disease should never be a matter of arbitrary decision as it concerns the greater public interest. That’s why there exists a precise mechanism. The WHO, in consultation and collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has identified best practices for the naming of new human diseases. The mechanism intends to minimize the unnecessary negative impact of disease names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, and to avoid offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.

The use of stigmatizing virus names by biased politicians and the media has caused considerable harm. As the novel coronavirus began spreading in Europe and the US, people of Asian origin have reportedly been discriminated against and some were even beaten up. 

The undeserved suffering of these people proves that it makes perfect sense for the WHO to avoid referring to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people when naming the new virus.

The use of a virus name for communication purpose should also follow the same principle of being in the public interest. For instance, the official name of the novel coronavirus is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). But the WHO has begun referring to the virus as “the virus responsible for COVID-19” or simply as “the COVID-19 virus”, for fear that the term “SARS” might have unintended consequences, such as causing unease or anxiety among some populations, especially in Asia, which was worst-hit by the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Instead of trying to deflect blame, world leaders should take responsibility and lead their people to fight the potentially lethal virus in a responsible manner

In the early days of the outbreak, some people referred to the novel coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus” for convenience in communication when the WHO had yet to give it an official name. But it is the responsibility of opinion leaders to educate the public on the negative consequences of using names to stigmatize people. To the surprise of many, quite a few opinion leaders in Hong Kong have deliberately used names that stigmatize Chinese people, exposing their wickedness and stupidity. In foreigners’ eyes, they are Chinese, no matter how they manipulate their sense of identity. They’d better be reminded by US Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, who tweeted, “Asian Americans will likely encounter more discrimination because of your tweet below. Please stop your unnecessary rhetoric. #COVID19 is now an American virus, an Italian virus, a Spanish virus. We all are impacted and we all need to work together.”

We are living in a globalized world; the novel coronavirus pandemic further proves this. Instead of trying to deflect blame, world leaders should take responsibility and lead their people to fight the potentially lethal virus in a responsible manner. All countries and people should focus on taking effective measures to contain the spread of the disease, with an emphasis on international cooperation and mutual support.

The blame game must end without delay for the sake of international solidarity, which is crucial to an early victory over COVID-19. No gains whatsoever will be attained by stigmatizing people. This is particularly true for those Hong Kong opinion leaders who have deliberately parroted the discriminatory rhetoric of foreign politicians.

The author is senior research officer of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.