The name COVID-19 comes from the three words coronavirus, virus and disease, and 19 represents the year 2019 when the disease appeared. The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic was reported to the World Health Organization on December 31, 2019.
At the beginning of the new coronavirus epidemic, WHO recommended the use of 2019-nCov (2019 novel coronavirus), but many media complained that it was too hard to pronounce.
Crystal Watson, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told the BBC, "2019-nCov is not at all convenient to use. The danger of not having an official name is that, People will start using terms like 'Chinese virus' on social media, and once a name gets circulated it quickly becomes dominant and difficult to take back."