China on Monday condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for branding the COVID-19 as the "Wuhan virus", terming his remarks as "despicable behaviour" and an attempt to stigmatise the Communist nation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially named coronavirus as COVID-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here responding to Pompeo's comments.
"Certain US politicians turning a blind eye to science and the decision of WHO has rushed to stigmatise China and Wuhan under the pretext of COVID-19. We condemn such despicable behaviour," Geng said.
Pompeo last Friday repeatedly referred to the coronavirus as "Wuhan virus", pointing to the Chinese city where the virus first emerged in December last year and also blamed Beijing for not sharing enough information about the disease which put the US "behind the curve".
According to WHO, the coronavirus cases have been reported in over 100 countries and regions including the US, India, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
The WHO report said a total of 105,586 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 have been reported worldwide as of Sunday, an increase of 3,656 infections from the previous day, including 3,610 new cases outside China.
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Pompeo seemed to blame the Chinese government for the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, CNN said in its report on his comments.
"Remember this is the Wuhan coronavirus that's caused this and the information that we got on the front end of this thing wasn't perfect and has led us now to a place where much of the challenge we face today has put us behind the curve," Pompeo said on CNBC.
He said it "has proven incredibly frustrating to work with the Chinese Communist Party to get our hands around the data set, which will ultimately be the solution to both getting the vaccine and attacking this risk."