WHO to review virus response as Trump renews attack
The World Health Organization said it could launch an independent review of its response to the coronavirus pandemic as US President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the global body, branding it a “puppet of China”.
Washington is locked in an increasingly bitter spat with Beijing over the new coronavirus pandemic and in addition has taken aim at the WHO, which on Monday kicked off its first ever virtual assembly.
An answer tabled by europe needed an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international response to the pandemic, which has so far infected practically 4.8 million persons and killed more than 317,000.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged there have been shortcomings and told the virtual assembly he welcomed demands a review.
“I will initiate an unbiased evaluation at the initial appropriate moment to examine experience gained and lessons learned, and make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response,” he said.
“But a very important factor is abundantly clear. The world must never be the same.
“We do not need a review to tell us that people must all do everything inside our capacity to ensure this never happens again,” Tedros said.
A broad range of country leaders and health ministers hailed the WHO’s efforts but US health secretary Alex Azar said its “failure” to acquire and provide essential information on COVID-19 had cost lives.
“We must be frank about among the primary reasons this outbreak spun uncontrollable: there was failing by this organisation to get the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives,” Azar said in a video address to the WHO’s main gross annual meeting.
- ‘Puppet of China’ -
Washington has suspended its funding to the health body, accusing it to be too near to Beijing, and covering up and mismanaging the pandemic.
“In an apparent try to conceal this outbreak, at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations, with tremendous costs for the complete world,” said Azar, pointing the finger at Beijing.
The outbreak, which emerged in China late last year, has killed and infected more people in the United States than in virtually any other country by far.
Later Monday, President Donald Trump confirmed he was considering slashing or cancelling US support for the WHO because “we’re not treated right”.
“They’re a puppet of China, they’re China-centric to place it nicer,” he said at the White House.
“They gave us a whole lot of bad advice.”
Trump has accused the WHO of blindly taking the word of China, where in fact the SARS-CoV-2 virus was initially detected.
Critics say Trump, who had earlier praised China’s response, is wanting to divert attention from his handling of the pandemic in america, which includes suffered by far the best death toll.
The gross annual World Health Assembly (WHA) has this year been trimmed from the most common three weeks to just two days, and is focusing solely on the pandemic.
- ‘Contradictory strategies’ -
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the assembly the COVID-19 crisis was a “wake-up call”.
“Deadly global threats need a new unity and solidarity,” he said.
“We've seen some solidarity, but very little unity, in our response to COVID-19. Different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory, strategies and we all have been paying much price.”
The UN head said many countries had ignored the WHO’s recommendations.
“Because of this, the virus has spread around the world and is now moving into the global South, where its impact could be a lot more devastating, and we are risking further spikes and waves,” Guterres said.
Protecting developing countries had not been a matter of charity but of enlightened self-interest, he said.
“We are as strong as the weakest health systems,” he warned.
Guterres said lessons learned from COVID-19 will be essential for tackling future crises but needed an immediate give attention to unity to complete the present emergency.
“Either we complete this pandemic together, or we fail. Either we stand together, or we break apart.”
Despite growing tensions between the world’s two greatest economies, member states hoped the WHA would adopt an answer targeted at fashioning a joint response, including commitments on equitable usage of potential treatments and vaccines.
Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced support for a joint approach, vowing in his address to make any vaccine his country developed designed for all and offered $2 billion in aid.
China currently has five potential vaccines in clinical trials.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted any vaccine must be available to everyone.
