WHO official warns against use of 'Chinese virus'（Bilingual）

世卫组织回应特朗普称新冠病毒为“中国病毒”：不应把病毒同种族联系

当地时间18日，世卫组织在日内瓦总部召开新冠肺炎例行发布会。世卫组织卫生紧急项目负责人迈克尔·瑞安针对媒体关注的美国总统特朗普称新冠病毒为“中国病毒”做出回应。

世卫组织卫生紧急项目负责人 迈克尔·瑞安：一直以来我们传递的信息就很清晰，病毒没有国界，不区分种族肤色和财富。我们在语言使用上要小心，应避免把病毒同个人联系在一起。我相信任何人都会后悔把病毒同种族联系在一起，这是所有人都不希望的，我们需要团结合作。2009年（H1N1）流感大流行是始于北美，我们也没把它称作北美流感。所以当遇到其他病毒时，我们采用同样的（命名）方式，避免同地域联系。我们要求每个人在这一刻都抱有团结的想法，这是需要事实并一起抗击病毒的时刻，而不是责怪谁。我们现在要确认所需要做的事情，从而确定地快速前进，同时避免将病毒同种族或其他领域相联系的表达。

WHO official warns against use of 'Chinese virus'

"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 leads to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus," said Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme Mike Ryan in response to Trump's usage of the "Chinese Virus" on Wednesday.

Ryan said that the 2009 (H1N1) pandemic started in North America, and people don't call it the North American flu. So when it comes to other viruses, the same approach must be used, avoiding connecting a virus with a region.

He stressed that this is the time to fight the virus together, and people need to work together, rather than blaming each other.

"All we need now is to identify the things we need to do to move forward quickly, with speed and to avoid any indication of ethnic or other associations with this virus," said Ryan.

More than 200,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally, taking over 8,000 people's lives, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

"Spirit of solidarity must be at the center of our efforts to defeat COVID-19," said Ghebreyesus.