Coronavirus: US reiterates call for Beijing to allow CDC experts in; Pompeo offers US$100 million in aid
- Health and Human Services Secretary says he ‘expects fully’ that Xi Jinping will allow US experts in
- Pompeo says US$100 million is earmarked for China and other countries fighting contagion
The US government on Friday reiterated a call to Beijing to send US medical experts to China as part of efforts to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus and pledged to spend up to US$100 million to assist the country and others impacted by the contagion.
"Our longstanding offer to send world class experts to China remains on the table,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters in Washington, adding that the US had identified 13 experts to be part of a proposed 25-person World Health Organisation team to assist Chinese specialists trying to bring the outbreak under control.
"These are virologists, drug development experts and epidemiologists who would be part of that team. We continue to expect fully that President Xi will accept that team that the WHO has put together,” Azar said.
“We have made the request now for almost a month, to say we are ready, willing and able,” he added.
Azar said US-China cooperation on public health matters stretched back decades, and pointed out that there are CDC members permanently stationed in Beijing as part of Washington’s health attache mission there.