It injured thousands of people, closed borders, and stopped work, travel and movement in parts of China. But this virus, which caused the spread of the disease, has no name yet.
It is still referred to as "Corona" virus. But this is a name given to a group of viruses, all of which fall under it.
But he was given a temporary title, 2019-CoVn, or the new 2019 Corona virus.
And a group of scholars are still searching behind closed doors for a term. And they told BBC that they are about to announce this name.
But why did it take so long?
"Naming any new virus that is often delayed, and now focusing on people's general health, is understandable," says Crystal Watson, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety.
"But there are reasons to give the label priority."
In order for scientists to distinguish this particular virus, they add an adjective "new" after "Corona virus." Corona viruses were called by this name due to their image under a microscope, which seems to have pointed ends like a crown.
The WHO recommended the temporary name 2019-CoVn, which includes the year in which it was discovered, the letter "n" indicating that it is new, and "CoV" referring to the Corona virus. But this name was not circulated.
Dr. says. Watson: “The name given to the virus is not easy to use, and the media and the public have resorted to using other names for the virus.”
"And the danger that there is no official name is for the public to start using terms like the Chinese virus, and this could lead to violent reaction in some populations."
She adds that unofficial nouns, when used by social media, quickly prove difficult to revert afterwards.
The task of naming the urgent virus is officially attributed to the International Virus Classification Committee.
Committee members have strange stories of past virus outbreaks. The 2009 H1N1 virus was dubbed "the swine flu". In Egypt, that name led to the killing of its pigs, although the virus was spread by individuals, not pigs.
Official names may cause some problems. The World Health Organization has criticized the name MERS, the acronym (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2015.
She said in a statement: "We have seen that some names of diseases have provoked violent reactions in some religious and ethnic communities, and have created unjustified barriers to travel and trade, and have led to the killing of some animals that feed on their meat."
Therefore, the organization issued some guidelines. Based on these guidelines, the name of the new Corona virus should not include:
A reference to a geographical location
The names of any of the peoples
The name of any animal or type of food
A reference to a specific culture or industry
The organization says that the name should be short and descriptive, such as "SARS", which is an acronym (acute respiratory syndrome), in English.
In order for the name to be popular, it must be easier to pronounce than other common names, according to Benjamin Newman, a professor of virology, and one of the 10 members of the team assigned to draft a new name for the virus.
The team began discussing the new name issue two weeks ago, and it took two days for them to agree on one name, Newman says.
They sent the name to a scientific journal for publication, and they hope to announce it within days.
The team, which seeks people to understand the virus, hopes the naming will allow researchers to focus on fighting the virus by removing confusion and shortening time.
"We will know in the future whether or not what we have found is right," says Newman.
He added, “For someone like me, I feel that my participation in helping to find an important virus label may ultimately be a permanent business and more helpful to people than my entire work. It is a huge responsibility. ”