GENEVA, April 8. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) is doing everything possible to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, commenting on US President Donald Trump’s criticism of WHO’s actions.
"We have been doing everything we can. We will continue to do everything day and night like we have been doing… we want to learn from our mistakes and learn forward. But for now, the focus should be on fighting this virus," he said.
"Please don’t politicize this virus. It exploits the differences you have at the national level," he stressed. The WHO chief called on all countries, including the US and China, to unite in the fight against the coronavirus.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he does not care about personal attacks, noting that in the past two or three months he has heard racist comments and even received death threats. He stressed that he prefers to focus on saving lives instead.
Trump’s criticism of WHO
On Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to sharply criticize WHO for its handling of the crisis, noting that the organization is "funded largely by the United States, yet [it is] very China centric." Later, he told a White House briefing that the administration is contemplating suspending payment of WHO budget fees. Trump then claimed that all measures taken by the organization to tackle the coronavirus crisis were wrong, suggesting that had he listened to WHO’s recommendation to keep border with China open, a catastrophe would have ensued.
According to the US Johns Hopkins University, over 401,600 cases of the novel coronavirus have been documented in the USA, 12,936 people have died and 22,539 have recovered.
According to the latest statistics, over 1,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 82,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
Protection of the most vulnerable
The WHO chief stated on Wednesday that the organization pays special attention to "protecting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, not just in the poorest countries, but in all countries."
He noted that April 9 marks 100 days since China reported the first cases of the novel coronavirus to the World Health Organization.
"For the past 100 days, our unwavering commitment has been to serve all people of the world with equity, objectivity and neutrality. And that will continue to be our sole focus in the days, weeks and months ahead," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed.
"We issued a Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, which identified the major actions countries need to take, and the resources needed to carry them out. Governments and partners rose to the challenge. More than $800 million has been pledged or received for the response," he said. "That includes more than $140 million from more than 229,000 individuals and organizations raised through the Solidarity Response Fund, exceeding all our expectations, and showing true global solidarity.".