The United States on Friday called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to immediately start an investigation into the origin of the novel coronavirus that infected more than 5.1 million and killed over 330,000 globally. The United States has time and again criticized the WHO for being "China centric" and the way it has handled the coronavirus pandemic.
This time the United States furnished a written statement to the WHO's executive board asking for a review and investigation. The WHO's executive board that also comprises the United States had a three-hour-long meeting on Friday. The latest move comes days after President Donald Trump threatened of permanently stopping funding to the WHO.
U.S. Points Finger at WHO Again
The WHO's executive board of 34 member states, including the United States, had a three-hour meeting on Friday. Admiral Brett P. Giroir, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, told the board in a written statement that the WHO shouldn't be wasting further time and start working on measures so that a pandemic of this scale doesn't happen in the future.
Giroir also asked for an impartial review and investigation into the source of the deadly coronavirus. "We applaud the call for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review to be undertaken in consultation with Member States and urge that work begin now," he said. He further added that it should immediately start working on it and the results of the review and the reforms to strengthen the WHO should be shared when the WHO Assembly resumes in autumn.
U.S. Dissatisfied with WHO
The comments from Giroir come just days after Trump threatened in a tweeted letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of permanently stopping funding the WHO if it doesn't commit to improvements within 30 days. Trump also threatened of reconsidering if the United Sates would continue to be a member of the world health body.
Trump has been critical of the WHO for quite some time now. Trump along with other White House officials had even accused the WHO of being "China centric" and failing in controlling the coronavirus outbreak. Giroir on Friday also said that the review if done by the Who will help in getting a complete understanding of the source of the virus, timeline of events and the decision-making process for the WHO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WHO, however, in remarks to the executive board said that it has worked day and night to help the world fight the pandemic. It now needs to be seen how the WHO responds to the request made by the United States to further investigate into the source of the virus.
