The World Health Organization which has been accused of failing to inform the truth about Chinese virus to the world, has now been targeted again by US President Donald Trump. Speaking at the daily briefing at the White House, President Trump said the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic. He has threatened to completely withhold the US contribution to the organisation if they do not come clean.
Trump said WHO had “called it wrong” on the virus and that the organization was “very China-centric” in its approach, suggesting that WHO had shielded China all along despite knowing that hundreds had already died of the virus in Wuhan. The severity of the outbreak was hidden by China and backed by WHO. The WHO instead had praised China for its ‘transparency’ on the virus, even when it has been widely believed that more people have died of COVID-19 than the count published by the Communist country.
It can be recalled that the US President used to refer to COVID19 as ‘China Virus’ until recently and stopped using the term after his telephonic conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
Making a direct charge of complicity with China, “They should have known and they probably did know,” Trump said of WHO officials. WHO Chief WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is alleged to have been elected to the post with the help of China and hence is shielding China throughout the crisis. Last week, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, called for the resignation of Dr. Tedros, saying “he allowed Beijing to use the WHO to mislead the global community”.
The Trump administration in its budget proposal in February had called for slashing the U.S. contribution to the WHO from an estimated $122.6 million to $57.9 million. Trump’s allies too have criticised WHO and have accused the organisation of relying on faulty data from China about the pandemic. Almost 13,000 people have died from the virus in the U.S with more than 1.25 lakh people being infected of COVID-19.
