US president Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" and, while there may have been political imperatives for doing so, giving the virus a geographical label isn't without precedent. Until 2015, viruses were usually named after the area or locale where they were thought to have originated. Think: Ebola, Hendra and MERS.

This was the case until the World Health Organisation called upon scientists, governments and the media to adhere to what it called "best practices" by naming viruses so as to minimise "unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people".

According to Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security, "the use of names such as 'swine flu' and 'Middle East Respiratory Syndrome' [have] had unintended negative impacts by stigmatising certain communities or economic sectors" and "certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, [and] create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade". However, not everyone is convinced about the merits of WHO's policy shift.

RMIT ABC Fact Check examines notable viruses and how they were labelled.