Coronavirus: WHO head stands by his praise for China and Xi Jinping on response to outbreak
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, makes remarks even while confirming China has delayed approval of agency’s research team
- Two-day forum of scientists fails to identify sources of the Covid-19 coronavirus, which has now killed more than 1,100
The head of the World Health Organisation defended his earlier praise of China’s response to the deadly coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday, questioning critics who disputed President Xi Jinping’s leadership.
At the agency’s daily briefing on the coronavirus – which causes the disease now named Covid-19 – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said that Xi had shown the kind of “political commitment” and “political leadership” expected of countries facing a public health crisis.
Tedros made his remarks even while confirming that the Chinese government still has not approved the exact make-up of an advance team WHO wants to send to China to investigate the virus.
“We have met the [Chinese] president. We have seen the level of knowledge he has on the outbreak,” Tedros said at the headquarters of the United Nations health agency in Geneva, Switzerland. “Don’t you appreciate that kind of leadership? We don’t say anything to please anyone.”
Wednesday also marked the end of a two-day forum of 400 scientists and public health experts, both in person and online, to discuss the available information about Covid-19 and how to work together better to combat the disease.
Scientists were still working to identify the coronavirus’s sources in a bid to prevent further animal-to-human transmissions, Tedros said. The virus is also known to infect by means of human-to-human transmission.