The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged unity, a day after the agency came under fire from US President Donald Trump.
Speaking on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO’s work and called for an end to the politicisation of Covid-19.
Mr Trump said Tuesday he would consider ending US funding for the agency.
The president accused the WHO of being “very China-centric” and said they “really blew” their pandemic response.
Dr Tedros has now dismissed the comments, insisting: “We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind.”
Covid-19 first emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has just ended an 11-week lockdown.
An advisor to the WHO chief earlier said that their close work with China had been “absolutely essential” in understanding the disease in its early stages.
Mr Trump’s comments came in the context of criticism of his own administration’s handling of the pandemic.
What did the WHO chief say?
“Please, unity at national level, no using Covid or political points,” Dr Tedros said Wednesday. “Second, honest solidarity at the global level. And honest leadership from the US and China.”
“The most powerful should lead the way and please quarantine Covid politics,” he appealed, in comments seen as a response to Mr Trump’s.
Speaking during the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House, the president said Tuesday that the WHO appeared to be “very biased toward China”.
The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?
End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump
“They called it wrong. They really – they missed the call,” he said. “And we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it, and we’re going to see.”
The US is one of the agency’s largest voluntary funders, with WHO data suggesting they contribute 15% to its overall budget.
On Wednesday Dr Tedros has played down that financial threat, saying he believed that US funding would continue.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had earlier added his voice to the defence of the organisation.
He described the coronavirus outbreak as “unprecedented” and said any assessment of how it was handled should be an issue for the future.
“Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also reportedly offered his support to the World Health Organization in a call to Dr Tedros on Wednesday.
“He reaffirmed his trust, his support for the institution and refuses to see it locked into a war between China and the USA,” a French presidency official told the Reuters news agency.
What else happened on Wednesday?
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