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SARS-CoV-2 is an appropriate name for the new coronavirus
Yuntao Wu
Wenzhe Ho
Yaowei Huang
Dong-Yan Jin
Shiyue Li
Shan-Lu Liu
et al.
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Published:March 06, 2020DOI:[doi.org]
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We have read with great interest the Correspondence by Shibo Jiang and colleagues,1 in which they propose a name change for the newly emerged coronavirus,2 which was recently designated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.3 The authors argued that the use of SARS in the virus name could confuse the public about the disease that it causes; in addition, they noted that the name SARS-CoV-2 is not consistent with the disease name chosen by WHO, coronavirus disease 2019. The authors also indicated that scientifically, SARS-CoV-2 is naturally occurring and different from other SARS-like or SARS-related coronaviruses that are mainly characterised by their genome sequences. Furthermore, given the probability of future attenuation of this virus to a low-pathogenic form, the authors predict that the use of the name SARS-CoV-2 might have adverse effects, both socially and economically. On these grounds, the authors suggest that the name of the new virus is changed to human coronavirus 2019 (HCoV-19). Although these concerns and suggestions are appreciated, we feel that the adoption of SARS-CoV-2 by the Coronavirus Study Group was appropriate.
To facilitate good practice and scientific exchange, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has established standardised formats for classifying viruses. Under these rules, a newly emerged virus is normally assigned to a species based on phylogeny and taxonomy.4 Through DivErsity pArtitioning by hieRarchical Clustering-based analyses,5 the newly emerged coronavirus was deemed not sufficiently novel but is a sister virus to SARS-CoV, the primary viral isolate defining the species. The SARS-CoV species includes viruses such as SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV_PC4-227, and SARSr-CoV-btKY72. SARS-CoV-2 is the newest member of this viral species. The use of SARS in naming SARS-CoV-2 does not derive from the name of the SARS disease but is a natural extension of the taxonomic practice for viruses in the SARS species. The use of SARS for viruses in this species mainly refers to their taxonomic relationship to the founding virus of this species, SARS-CoV. In other words, viruses in this species can be named SARS regardless of whether or not they cause SARS-like diseases.