Donald Trump Call Corona the 'Chinese Virus', Chinese Spokesman: Take Care of Your Own Business

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Through his Twitter account, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, called Corona a "Chinese virus". The Chinese spokesman responded.

President of the United States, Donald Trump, wrote a tweet on Tuesday (3/17/2020).

In his tweet, Trump said the government would provide support to various industries affected by the Corona virus.

However, the tweet became controversial.

The reason, Trump calls Covid-19 as a "Chinese virus".

"The United States will strongly support related industries, such as Arlines and others, which are specifically affected by the Chinese Virus.

We will be stronger than before! "Trump wrote.

Cuitan has received 70,600 retweets, 315,400 likes and 128,500 comments per Wednesday (3/18/2020).

Reported by BBC.com, China reacted to Trump's tweet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Trump's chanting was a stigmatization of China.

"The US must 'take care of its own business' before stigmatizing China," Shuang warned.

"We urge the US to correct its mistakes and stop its baseless accusations against China," Shuang added.

Meanwhile, China's official news agency, Xinhua, said the language Trump used was racist and xenophobic.

"Trump's language expresses his inability and irresponsibility as a politician," Xinhua reported.

Trump's speech is considered to increase concerns about the virus.

Other criticisms made by the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio.

Through his Twitter account, de Blasio considers Trump's poetry to risk triggering more fanaticism towards Asian-Americans.

"If you are looking for someone to overcome this crisis, try someone who created a fake website on Google or who promises test equipment that is STILL not yet sent.

Our Asian-American community, the people you serve, are suffering.

They don't need more bigotry than you do, "de Blasio wrote on Tuesday (3/17/2020).

Earlier, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a conspiracy theory about the Corona virus.

He accused the US Army of bringing Covid-19 to Chinese territory.

That made Wuhan, China, the scapegoat.

The baseless accusations caused the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to react.

Pompeo demanded that China stop spreading "disinformation" which blamed the US for the plague.

China-US relations now

Now, China and US relations are strained.

Trump has long accused China of unfair trade practices.

In addition, China is also considered to have stolen intellectual property.

On the other hand, in China, there is a perception that the US is trying to control the strength of the global economy.

Both were involved in a bitter trade war.

The US and China bet hundreds of billions of dollars because of the conflict.

However, competition seemed to subside after the Corona virus outbreak began.

WHO Reason to Give Official Name COVID-19 for New Corona Virus, Not Include Wuhan or China

World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the official name for the new Corona virus outbreak on Tuesday (11/02/2020) then.

The official name of the new Corona virus is COVID-19.

COVID-19 is an abbreviation of Corona Virus Disease 19.

Reported by Time.com, WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, revealed the origin of naming the disease.

He said, WHO made sure not to refer to Wuhan, where the virus originated.

WHO reference guidelines established in 2015 ensure that disease names do not refer to geographical locations, animals, individuals, or groups of people.

"Having a name is important to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing," Tedros said.

Tedros added, the official name could also provide a standard format for later use.

Public health experts agree with the choice not to list geographical areas in China after the name of the disease.

"If the name of the new Corona virus embeds Wuhan, it will provide extraordinary sitgmatisation to Wuhan people who are victims," ​​Wendy Parmet, a law professor at Northeastern University and a public health expert, told Time.

Parmet explained, people tend to regard the Corona virus as a characteristic of several groups of people associated with place names.

That is considered as stigmatization.

Moreover, there have been reports of incidents and attitudes of xenophobia, where there is prejudice against people of Asian descent post-virus spread in various countries in the world.

Experts note that there is a "long history" of disease names that include certain groups of people, places or animals in them.

Around the 1500s in France, Syphilis was referred to as an Italian disease.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Syphilis is referred to as French disease.

In 1918, the flu pandemic was widely called the Spanish Flu in the US.

In fact, the flu did not originate from Spain.

In 2009, WHO stopped using the term "swine flu" and replaced it with influenza A (H1N1).

Because, naming it causes a decrease in income in the pork market.

Ebola is named after the river near where the outbreak first originated.

Now, WHO records Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Spanish Flu, Swine Flu, and Chagas disease as examples of names to avoid when searching for names for new diseases.

Arnold Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, said it was important to be sensitive to different cultures when naming an illness.

"If you have a regional name and spread globally, that's confusing," Monto said.

In the case of the new Corona virus, WHO has determined a name for the disease, not a virus.

This virus is named severe acute coronavirus 2 respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) by the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy.

They are responsible for the official classification of viruses.

The committee acknowledged the similarity of the new Corona virus with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic that occurred between 2002-2003.

For his illness, said Parmet, COVID-19 is a very ideal name.

Short, easy to pronounce, and consists of two syllables.

"It takes a name that is easy for people to continue to use. If not, they will replace it with language that is precisely the problem," he said.