How COVID-19 got its name

When we are born, we are given names that stay with us for our whole lives. Some names include good wishes and hopes from parents, while others may be unique and easy to remember. But do you know how the new coronavirus got its name?
我们出生时就有了名字，名字与我们相伴一生。一些名字中包含了父母的美好祝愿与希冀，还有些名字独特又好记。但你知道新型冠状病毒是如何命名的吗？

According to International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, an organization responsible for naming new viruses, the task of naming a virus is no less important than naming a person.
负责为新病毒命名的机构国际病毒分类委员会表示，为一种病毒命名的重要性不亚于为一个人起名。

When a disease breaks out, people focus on the public health response and the official naming of a new virus is often delayed. But that may lead to many problems. The most obvious one is that different media organizations may use different names for the same virus in their reports. As we enter the internet era, information and news can spread to every household in seconds. This means different names can take hold quickly and be hard to take back, which may confuse those who know little about the virus.
当一种疾病爆发时，人们的关注点都在公共卫生应急反应上，新病毒命名常有所延误。但这或许会带来许多问题。最显而易见的莫过于，不同的媒体机构在报道中或许会使用不同的名称来指代同一种病毒。随着我们进入互联网时代，信息和新闻分秒间便能传遍家家户户。也就是说，这些不同的名字很快就会被接收，但想把它们收回就难了，对病毒不甚了解的人们或许会对此感到困惑。

But naming a virus is never easy. Over the past decade, some improper names have caused problems. In 2009, the “swine flu” was widely used before the official name, H1N1 virus, was announced. This led Egypt to slaughter all of its pigs even though it emerged and spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs. In 2015, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) caused a backlash against the nations and people of this region.
但为病毒命名也绝非易事。在过去的十年间，一些不恰当的名字引发了种种问题。2009年，在病毒H1N1的正式名称被公布之前，“猪流感”一词被广泛使用。这导致埃及打算屠宰国内所有的猪，尽管在未接触猪的人群中也出现了传播感染。2015年的中东呼吸综合征则引发了对中东地区的国家和人们的强烈抵制。

So in 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the names of viruses should be easy to remember but avoid being named after geographic locations, people, species or classes of animals and foods.
因此，2015年，世界卫生组织宣布，病毒名称应当容易记忆，但要避免涉及地理位置、人群、物种或者动物和食物的分类。

Following these principles, the new coronavirus we are suffering from was named “COVID-19” by the WHO on Feb 11. In this name, “CO” means “corona”, “VI” stands for “virus” and “D” means “disease”.
遵循这些原则，世界卫生组织2月11日将我们正遭受的新型冠状病毒肺炎命名为“COVID-19”。在这一名字中，CO代表冠状（corona），VI代表病毒（virus），D代表疾病（disease）。

Next time you read about a virus you don’t know, you may get some clues about it from its name.
下次当你读到一种你不知道的病毒时，你或许能从其名字中找到一些线索。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高三707期