Published 02:47 IST, March 20th 2020
'It's not racist at all': Donald Trump defends his 'Chinese virus' remark
US President Donald Trump justified his branding of novel coronavirus pandemic as the "Chinese Virus", disregarding criticism of it being racist & inaccurate
US President Donald Trump justified his branding of the novel coronavirus pandemic as the "Chinese Virus" on March 19, disregarding criticism that the label is racially offensive and inaccurately depicts the global nature of COVID-19.
As per White House reports, Trump told the media present at the coronavirus task force’s daily news briefing that it is not racist at all as the disease comes from China. Trump on Wednesday shared three controversial Twitter posts and also wrote that he would hold a news conference to discuss an announcement by the Food and Drug Administration "concerning the Chinese Virus".
WHO warns against calling COVID-19 "Chinese Virus"
According to the reports, the World Health Organisation officials have warned against labelling COVID-19 as "Chinese virus" as it could unintentionally lead to racial profiling.
Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s emergencies program, said at a news conference, "Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank. So it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus".
According to the international media reports, the WHO officials intentionally gave the virus a generic name to avoid stigmatising a country or particular group and chose a name that does not refer to a geographical location, animals, an individual or a group of people. The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease. COVID-19 was first detected late last year.
(Pic Credit: AP)
Updated 02:47 IST, March 20th 2020