The US Ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter, on Sunday, April 19, derided a Kenyan man over the country’s capability to test for COVID-19 infections among her citizens.

McCarter said on Twitter that Kenya would not be able to test for coronavirus infections were it not for help from the USA.

The diplomat had tweeted that “only a fraction of Kenyans are wearing face masks and are social distancing”, hence increasing the chances of new infections among the citizens.

“Only a fraction of the wananchi are wearing masks and [are] social distancing! None of us know the magnitude of this Wuhan flu but we must take basic known wise precautions. It is only for a short time. We will come back to prosperity and a culture of Kenya closeness soon. #USAMarafiki,” tweeted McCarter at 5:46pm on Sunday.

A Kenyan Twitter user, Allan Ogera (@OgeraJOWI), challenged McCarter’s nicknaming of COVID-19 as the “Wuhan flu”.

“@USAmbKenya, it is coronavirus, or COVID-19. Insisting on renaming it Wuhan flu or China flu like your president [Donald Trump] does, is just plain daft! How many masks has @USEmbassyKenya donated [to Kenyans]?” posed Ogera.

In a quick response to Ogera, McCarter said: “You would not be able to test in Kenya if not for #usamarafiki.”

It wasn’t only Ogera who took issue with McCarter’s naming of COVID-19 as the “Wuhan flu”. A user by the name KOT (@KOT_Loyals) replied to McCarter’s tweet, saying: “[It is called] COVID-19, not Wuhan flu”.

McCarter clapped back at KOT, questioning his (KOT’s) authority to assign names to diseases.

“Are you KOT or WHO?” said McCarter.

Another Twitter user, Alkarim Jiwa (@AlkarimJiwa), said: “Wuhan flu? Really, Mr. Ambassador?” McCarter, again, replied with a brief but emphatic response. “Absolutely!” he said.

Trump and the ‘Wuhan flu’ tag

US President Donald Trump has constantly referred to coronavirus as “the China virus” or “the Wuhan flu”.

On March 17, China reacted angrily after President Trump referred to the coronavirus as “Chinese”.

“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!” tweeted President Trump.

Upon seeing the Head of State’s tweet, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned the US should “take care of its own business” before stigmatising China.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said the tweet amounted to “stigmatisation of China”.

“We urge the US to correct its mistake and stop its groundless accusations against China,” he said.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said President Trump’s language was “racist and xenophobic” and revealed “politicians’ irresponsibility and incompetence”, risking increasing fears over the virus.

The first cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

On February 11, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had settled on the name COVID-19 for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“We now have a name for the disease and it’s COVID-19,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

The name was settled on after the death toll from the virus — at the time — passed 1,000. Tens of thousands of people had been infected.

The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to, rather than the latest strain.

The virus itself was designated SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

Researchers had been calling for an official name to avoid confusion and stigmatisation of any group or country.

“We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease,” the WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.”

The new name was taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”, with 2019 representing the year that it emerged (the outbreak was reported to the WHO on December 31, 2019).

Kenya COVID-19 situation

Kenya has so far conducted 13, 872 coronavirus tests, out of which 281 people tested positive for the virus, with 14 dying of it, and 69 recovering. The country first registered its coronavirus case on March 12.

Coronavirus: The World

The US — as of Tuesday, April 21 — leads in the number of coronavirus infections in the world, with 799, 515confirmed cases, out of which, there are 73, 373 recoveries and 42, 897deaths.

Spain follows with 200, 210 cases, with 80, 587 recoveries and 20, 852 deaths.

Italy is third with 181,228 confirmed infections, with 48, 877 recoveries and 24, 114 fatalities.

Germany wraps up the Top Four most-affected countries in the world with 147,062 confirmed cases, out of which, there are 84, 717 recoveries and 4, 862 deaths.