The term “coronavirus” has been used to describe the new illness going around China that is threatening nations throughout the world and could become a global pandemic, infecting possibly sixty percent of the world if it continues. However, the term “coronavirus” refers to a category of viruses and not just this one particular illness.
The ambiguity about the virus is over now, as it officially has a name: COVID-19, and reports are that a vaccine will be ready for it in eighteen months.
The first vaccine targeting China’s coronavirus could be available in 18 months, “so we have to do everything today using available weapons”, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Tuesday.
He said the virus had been named COVID-19, explaining that it was important to avoid stigma and that other names could be inaccurate. (source)