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Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) agreed on Tuesday to conduct an independent investigation into the United Nations agency’s response to the coronavirus COVID-19 infection, with growing criticism from the United States.
At the World Health Assembly, to be held by videoconference this year, the parties unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international response to the crisis.
The resolution presented by the European Union establishes that the study must include “the action of the WHO and its punctuality in response to the COVID-19 pandemic”, which has already infected more than 4.8 million people. and more than 318 thousand died. people, evaluation.
The United States did not distance itself from this initiative, as feared, because on Monday, the first day of the Assembly, Washington attacked the WHO and poured anger on China at the outbreak of this pandemic.
Chinese puppet
United States President Donald Trump threatened to expel the United States from WHO on Monday, accusing the UN health agency of mismanaging the global response to the pandemic and of being in a “Chinese puppet.”
His statement, which Beijing vehemently rejected, came after the United States Secretary of Health Alex Azar said Monday that the WHO “had been unable” to obtain and provide information on COVID-19 infection.
“We need to be open about one of the main reasons why the outbreak has been out of control: This organization has failed to obtain the information the world needs, and this failure has cost many lives,” Azar told the World Health Assembly. .
He called for an independent study on “all aspects” of the UN health agency’s response to the pandemic.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the research proposal on Monday, but said there was no need for a dramatic transformation of the organization.
The world community needs “to strengthen, implement and finance existing systems and organizations, including WHO,” he said.
Trump is embroiled in a dispute with Beijing, accusing him of covering up a coronavirus outbreak in China late last year that has claimed many lives and affected the entire planet.
Scanpix Photo / Donald Short
In the United States, where there are more deaths and infections from COVID-19 infection than in any other country in the world, the pressured president has accused the WHO of not doing enough to prevent the infection from spreading early in the outbreak. .
Trump has already frozen US funds for the UN health agency, and posted a copy of his letter to the WHO chief on Twitter Monday after the White House remarks. In it, the President of EE. USA He threatened to permanently freeze the funds and leave the organization.
This turn of events provoked a strong reaction from Beijing. He said Tuesday that Washington was “shirking its responsibilities.”
Russia also condemned on Tuesday Trump’s threat to withdraw the United States from the WHO.
“Yes, opportunities for her [organizaciją] but we are against the political or geopolitical priorities of a state that dismantles everything [organizacijoje] is, “said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, quoted by the Interfax news agency.
At the time, the EU on Tuesday expressed support for the WHO.
“This is a time of solidarity, not a time to signal or hinder multilateral cooperation,” Virginie Battu-Henriksson, spokeswoman for the Community’s foreign and security policy, told reporters in Brussels.
A resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly on Tuesday, which is not legally binding and does not name individual countries, also urges states to commit to “transparent, fair and timely access” to any COVID-19 or vaccine developed.
It also addresses the controversial issue of the emergence of a new coronavirus in China. The resolution asks WHO to help investigate “the zoonotic source of the virus and how it has been transmitted to the human population.”
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