KUALA LUMPUR: Covid-19, which stands for ‘Corona Virus Disease’, is the official name for the 2019 novel coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The announcement was made by WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who explained that “co” stood for “corona”, “vi” for “virus” and “d” for “disease”, in the daily media briefing about the virus, held in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday (local time).