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UNITED NATIONS: The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, condemned on Thursday (December 3) the countries, without naming names, that rejected the facts about the coronavirus pandemic and ignored the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Guterres addressed a special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on COVID-19, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and spread globally, so far infecting nearly 65 million. people and killing nearly 1.5 million.
Dozens of world leaders have submitted pre-recorded video statements for the two-day meeting.
“From the beginning, the World Health Organization provided factual information and scientific guidance that should have been the basis for a coordinated global response,” Guterres said.
“Unfortunately, many of these recommendations were not followed. And in some situations, there was a rejection of the facts and an ignorance of the direction. And when countries go in their own direction, the virus goes in all directions,” he said.
READ: UN chief warns about a long way to go after approval of vaccines
US President Donald Trump cut funding to the WHO earlier this year and announced plans to resign from the Geneva-based body over accusations that he was a puppet of China, which the WHO denied. The US withdrawal would have taken effect in July next year, but US President-elect Joe Biden said he will rescind the measure.
Long-standing tensions between the United States and China reached a boiling point over the pandemic at the United Nations, where months of disputes between the superpowers have highlighted Beijing’s bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to global influence. traditional Washington.
“This is not the time to point the finger,” said UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir. “The United Nations must lead this.”
Guterres is pushing for a COVID-19 vaccine to be available to all and for rich countries to help developing countries fight and recover from the pandemic.
READ: How the World Has Accelerated COVID-19 Vaccine Approvals
“France proposes a donation mechanism so that a part of the first doses of available vaccines is used to vaccinate priority groups in developing countries,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in the General Assembly.
In a forthcoming statement, Britain’s Health Secretary Matthew Hancock urged countries to lift export controls and tariffs on vital items needed to fight the virus, such as gloves and thermometers, adding: “Let’s go. to put this into action ourselves from January 1. “
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