Coronavirus: WHO chief defends handling of pandemic against Trump criticism

GENEVA (REUTERS/BLOOMBERG) - The head of the World Health Organisation gave a strident defence of his agency's handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday (April 8), in response to US President Donald Trump's criticism and suggestion that Washington could review its funding for the agency.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity and a halt to "politicisation" of the global health crisis, specifically urging China and the United States to show "honest leadership".

Tedros said that he expected US funding to continue with traditional bipartisan support.

US contributions to the WHO in 2019 exceeded US$400 million (S$570 million), almost double the second largest country donor, according to US figures. The WHO website shows the United States as its top donor, contributing nearly 15 per cent of the budget.

"We have kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence," Tedros said, noting that Thursday would mark 100 days since China first notified the organisation of cases of "pneumonia with unknown cause" on Dec 31.

Tedros, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia, also rejected Trump's suggestion that the WHO was "China-centric", saying: "We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind."

Earlier, Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to Tedros, also defended the UN agency's relationship with China, saying its work with Beijing authorities was important to understand the outbreak.

"It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this," said Aylward, who led a WHO expert mission to China in February.

In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that now was not the time to assess the global response to the pandemic, calling instead for the international community to focus on working in solidarity to stop the virus.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted her support for the WHO on Wednesday, saying: "As UN spokesman said, it's clear that WHO, under Dr Tedros' leadership, has done tremendous work on COVID. WHO is showing the strength of the intl health system. We need solidarity and cooperation than ever to win the fight!"

China's foreign ministry on Thursday said it hoped all countries would stand together and help each other.

"China will continue to support the WHO in playing a leading role in the fight against Covid-19," ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.

Tedros said his UN agency would conduct its usual assessment of its performance after the emergency and draw lessons about its strengths and weaknesses, adding: "We make mistakes like other human beings."

He summarised his advice as: "Please, unity at national level, no using Covid for political points. 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 added, referring to Covid-19, the highly contagious, sometimes deadly illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Tedros said that China and United States should follow the example of the former Soviet Union and the United States who launched a 10-year global campaign in 1967 that eradicated smallpox, a disease then killing two million people annually.

Tedros rejected "racist slurs" against him, which he said had originated in Taiwan, and disclosed that he had also received a death threat during the crisis.

"We are losing people, why would I care about being attacked when people are dying?" he said, noting there were already "60,000 body bags" after more than 1.3 million infections.

"We will have many body bags in front of us if we don't behave," he added.