Coronavirus has a new name

China on Wednesday recorded the second straight day of decline in the number of new cases of the viral pneumonia now called COVID-19. The country’s National Health Commission said Tuesday it tallied 2,015 new cases of the coronavirus, down from nearly 3,900 new cases in a single day one week ago. The World Health Organization announced the new name, which is an abbreviation of “coronavirus disease” with the year it was first detected to ensure a “standard format” for any future outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

How are travelers adapting? The virus has infected more than 45,000 people globally and killed more than 1,000. A cruise ship with more than 2,200 people on board will dock in Cambodia on Thursday morning after Taiwan, Japan, and two other countries denied it entry over fears of the virus.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s report in Beginnings about how the global health community is treating this outbreak of respiratory illness differently from the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003.