Iran Press/Asia: China’s Foreign Ministry criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday for describing the novel coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus,” a name that refers to the Chinese city where it first appeared, Global times reported.
Noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had said that the virus should be referred to as the novel coronavirus and not by a geographic name, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang accused America’s top diplomat of trying to slander China.
“We condemn the despicable practice of individual US politicians eagerly stigmatizing China and Wuhan by association with the novel coronavirus, disrespecting science and WHO,” Geng said at a daily news conference.
“The international society has a fair judgment, and Pompeo’s attempts of slandering China’s efforts in combating the epidemic is doomed to fail,” Geng said, arguing that China had been open with information about the outbreak, sharing it with the United States and other countries.
Pompeo used the term “Wuhan virus” or “Wuhan coronavirus” to refer to the novel coronavirus at least twice last week: once during a news conference last Thursday and then the next day during a CNBC interview. Separately, on Sunday night, Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) announced that he would self-quarantine because of possible exposure to the “Wuhan virus,” sparking criticism from users on Twitter, where he announced the measures.
In guidelines issued in February, the WHO had said that the name “Wuhan virus” and other geographic references should be avoided, as they could stigmatize people of Chinese origin. Instead, the organization formally named the disease that the coronavirus causes “covid-19” — “co” for corona, “vi” for virus and “d” for disease, along with the date it emerged.
COVID-19 was first detected in China's Wuhan in late December and has since spread across the world. In late January, the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency in light of the epidemic.
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