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1 correction found
COVID-19 virus
This phrase is scientifically incorrect: COVID-19 is the disease, not the virus. The virus that causes COVID-19 is SARS-CoV-2.
Full reasoning
The text conflates the disease COVID-19 with the virus that causes it. The World Health Organization defines COVID-19 as a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, not the name of the virus itself. WHO's 11 March 2020 briefing also says that "COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic". So the historical event is broadly right, but the specific phrase "COVID-19 virus" is inaccurate terminology.
A precise phrasing would be something like "the COVID-19 pandemic" or "the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak".
2 sources
- WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
COVID-19 is a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
- WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020
We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.