Advertisement

Updated May 9th, 2020 at 20:29 IST

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged WHO chief to downplay Coronavirus outbreak: Report

Chinese President had requested the WHO chief to downplay the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, Germany’s federal intelligence agency reportedly claimed.

Reported by: Kunal Gaurav
Chinese president
| Image:self
Advertisement

Chinese President Xi Jinping had requested the World Health Organisation (WHO) to downplay the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, Germany’s federal intelligence agency has reportedly claimed. According to a report of German publication Der Speigel, Xi had personally requested the WHO chief on January 21 to delay the message about the disease and downplay the seriousness of the threat.

The WHO declared the novel coronavirus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30. The UN health agency kept warning about the possibility of a pandemic but officially declared the infectious disease as a pandemic on March 11 following which countries around the world started taking aggressive action to avert the looming crisis.

The United States has emerged as a staunch critic of the UN agency and blamed it for being “China-centric”. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo had even warned that Washington may never restore the funding of WHO and could even set up an alternative body to the UN agency that will deliver on the “intended purposes”. In a radio interview on April 23, the top US diplomat hinted at a "reform" while questioning the ability of the WHO to perform its primary function.

Read: China Flaunts French Connection To Wuhan's Virology Lab, No Clarity On WHO Probe

After Pompeo’s warning, five US Republican Senators introduced a bill on May 6 to review the “accountability and effectiveness” of US participation in the WHO and other international institutions. Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with four other members introduced the Multilateral Aid Review Act of 2020 (MAR Act). 

Read: US Blocks UN Security Council's Vote For Global Ceasefire Over Reference To WHO

'Nothing being concealed'

However, the WHO has continuously insisted that it sounded the alarm on the novel coronavirus right from the very start and had hidden nothing about the deadly virus. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asserted during a press briefing that the presence of embedded US government secondees working at the headquarters in Geneva meant there was nothing being concealed from Washington.

Read: Mike Pompeo's Comment On Origin Of Coronavirus Remains 'speculative': WHO

Read: WHO 'keen' To Investigate Origin Of Coronavirus On Invitation From China

Advertisement

Published May 9th, 2020 at 20:29 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Credit Card score
a few seconds ago
Rajinikanth in Thalaivar 171 poster
a few seconds ago
Mandi Lok Sabha seat Pratibha Singh
5 minutes ago
Platinum Industries IPO
6 minutes ago
PV Sindhu makes winning return in BATC 2024
17 minutes ago
Nitin Menon and Anil Chaudhary
21 minutes ago
Hardik Pandya
22 minutes ago
Tillu Square
26 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo