The politics of naming Covid-19

Trump has labelled it the ‘Chinese virus’ but why does it matter what we call it?

Donald Trump Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump attend a welcoming ceremony in 2017
(Image credit: Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)

Syphilis was once known as the “French disease” in Italy, the “Italian disease” in France, the “Spanish disease” by the Dutch, the “Polish disease” by Russians and the “Christian disease” by Turks.

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