Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide guidance on the medical accuracy of (a) the term Wuhan coronavirus and (b) other terms related to covid-19 to (i) the media and (ii) other relevant bodies; and if he will make a statement.

The term ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ is no longer used. Since 12 February 2020, Public Health England (PHE) and the Department have used the terminology used by the World Health Organization that is: the illness is referred to as COVID-19 and the virus is SARS-CoV-2.

When communicating to the media and other relevant bodies, PHE and the Department mainly talk about the disease, using the term COVID-19.