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Posted: May 10, 2020 1:19:44 pm
In a series of tweets, the WHO clarified that there was never a phone call between Chief Tedros and Xi Jinping. (Reuters / Archive)
The World Health Organization denied a media report claiming that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally asked WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom to “delay a global warning” about the coronavirus outbreak during a phone call in January.
German news outlet Der Spiegel published a report citing intelligence from the country’s Federal Intelligence Service, known as the “Bundesnachrichtendienst” (BND), that China “urged” the WHO to “delay a global warning” about the outbreak of coronavirus. According to the report, intelligence found that Xi and Tedros spoke on the phone on January 21, during which the Chinese president “urged” the WHO chief to “withhold information about a person-to-person transmission and delay a pandemic warning.” . “The BND estimates that China’s information policy lost four to six weeks to combat the virus worldwide,” the report added.
The WHO, for its part, called the claims “unfounded and false.” In a series of tweets, the WHO clarified that there was never a phone call between Chief Tedros and Xi Jinping.
“Der Spiegel reports that a phone conversation on January 21, 2020 between Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and President Xi Jinping of China is unfounded and false,” the WHO said. “Dr. Tedros and President Xi did not speak on January 21 and never spoke on the phone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from the efforts of WHO and the world to end the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Statement on false accusations in @derspiegel: Reports of a January 21 phone call between @DrTedros & 🇨🇳 President Xi is unfounded and untrue. They didn’t speak on January 21 and have never spoken for 📞
Such inaccurate reports distract and devalue WHO and 🌍 efforts to end # COVID-19– World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 9, 2020
The WHO said Saturday that “China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus on January 20.” The WHO publicly stated on January 22 that “the data collected … suggests that person-to-person transmission is in Wuhan.” The organization declared coronavirus a pandemic in March.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused the WHO of becoming a “Chinese propaganda” tool, has also moved to stop American aid to the organization. It has also launched an investigation into the role of the WHO in the spread of the coronavirus. In the past, Trump accused the WHO of being “focused on China” and also called him a “Pipe Organ” for Beijing.
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