WHO head defends handling of coronavirus pandemic against Trump criticism
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
February 04, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2023
WHO head defends handling of coronavirus pandemic against Trump criticism

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
09 April, 2020, 09:05 am
Last modified: 09 April, 2020, 10:48 am

Related News

  • Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • Under-funded WHO seeks 'reinforced' role in global health at key meeting
  • Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

WHO head defends handling of coronavirus pandemic against Trump criticism

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity and a halt to "politicization" of the global health crisis, specifically urging China and the United States to show "honest leadership"

Reuters
09 April, 2020, 09:05 am
Last modified: 09 April, 2020, 10:48 am
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020/ Reuters
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020/ Reuters

The head of the World Health Organization gave a strident defence of his agency's handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, in response to US President Donald Trump's criticism and suggestions that Washington could review its funding for the agency.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity and a halt to "politicization" of the global health crisis, specifically urging China and the United States to show "honest leadership".

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

Trump and his administration repeated its criticism, on Wednesday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was re-evaluating US funding to the body, saying international organizations utilizing US taxpayer money needed to deliver on their goals. But he objected to a leadership change at the WHO at this time.

US contributions to the WHO in 2019 exceeded $400 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% of the budget.

Trump told the daily White House briefing on the coronavirus that Beijing's payment was a small fraction of Washington's WHO contribution, and that was "not fair at all."

"So, we're going to do study, investigation. And we're going to make a determination as to what we're doing. In the meantime, we're holding back. We ... want to see."

Trump said the WHO issued a statement on January 14 saying "there was no human-to-human transmission" and criticized him "very strongly" when he said he was going to shut down flights from China.

Tedros said the WHO had "kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence" and noted that Thursday would mark 100 days since China first notified the organization of cases of "pneumonia with unknown cause" on December 31.

Tedros, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia, 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 an interview with KDKA Radio, Pompeo said: "I think it's pretty clear that the World Health Organization hasn't lived up to its billing, it hasn't been able to achieve what it was designed to achieve, and we just can't continue to permit that to go on. We've got to find a way."

Pompeo was asked at the coronavirus briefing whether it was time to change the WHO leadership and replied: "This is not the time to be doing that kind of change."

'We Make Mistakes'

In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday 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.

Tedros said his UNagency 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 Beijing and Washington should follow the example of what the former Soviet Union and the United States did in 1967 when they launched a 10-year global campaign that eradicated smallpox, a disease then killing 2 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.

Top News

WHO / Trump / Coronavirus / COVID-19

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Illustration: TBS
    Cash-strapped banks fail to maintain emergency cash
  • Is the IMF to blame for growing pressure on your wallet?
    Is the IMF to blame for growing pressure on your wallet?
  • Photo: Joynal Abedin Shishir/TBS
    BNP's anti-govt rally underway at Nayapaltan

MOST VIEWED

  • Tourists ride a tour bus in Hong Kong, China October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
    Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak are seen at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China July 23, 2020. Photo:Reuters
    Pandemic to paradise: Chinese tourists return to Bali after three years
  • People walk outside wearing masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Harlem area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
    US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • A nurse prepares a shot for Jonathan Halter as the German embassy begins its roll out of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for German expatriates at a Beijing United Family hospital in Beijing, China January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
    Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • People walk with their luggage at a railway station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

Related News

  • Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • Under-funded WHO seeks 'reinforced' role in global health at key meeting
  • Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

Features

Sketch: TBS

Say 'Salud' before your salad main course

6h | Food
Coots running. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Cute Coot of Baikka Beel: 'And yet he was as bald as a coot'

31m | Panorama
With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.

Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

7h | Panorama
Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

2h | TBS Stories
How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

3h | TBS Markets
A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

1d | TBS Round Table
Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

1d | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]