The United Nations has said it would investigate what led to the emergence and spread of COVID-19 when the outbreak ends.
The call for an investigation follows criticisms and threats issued by President Trump against the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO). President Trump annoyed that the United States, though it’s the highest contributor to the WHO than any other country, was not getting attention like China. Mr. Trump accused the World health body of being ‘China-centric.’
The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis. But now is not that time.”
Mr. Trump had earlier accused the WHO of being China-focused because it criticised his plan to ban travel from China. He later threatened to withhold funding from the health agency. While the U.S. Congress has already approved $122 million for the WHO for this fiscal year, Trump has proposed $58 million for the agency in 2021, CNBC reports that the Congress is not likely to agree to such drastic funding cut considering the spread of the viral infection.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “we need to make sure that, not only the World Health Organization but every international organization that we take taxpayer money and give it to them for the benefit of America, we need to make sure it’s delivering on those taxpayer dollars.”
When asked about Trump’s threat to the WHO, the Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said leaders should not politicise the pandemic “if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”
But Mr. Trump replied that the priority of WHO is every country deserves equal treatment and that they should get their priorities right.
“I can’t believe he’s talking about politics when look at the relationship they have to China. So China spends $42 million, and we spend $450 million, and everything seems to be China’s way.”
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