Antony Blinken meets WHO chief, supports new coronavirus origins probe in China
- The session with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Kuwait had not been on the top US diplomat’s published schedule
- The UN health agency has been under intensifying pressure for a new, more in-depth investigation of how Covid-19 first emerged
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Kuwait on Wednesday where he pledged his support to the UN agency’s investigation in China into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The US supports the @WHO plans for additional studies into Covid-19 origins, including in (the People’s Republic of China), to better understand this pandemic and prevent future ones,” Blinken tweeted after arriving in the Gulf Arab state.
The meeting with Tedros had not been on the US diplomat’s published schedule.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken “stressed the need for the next phase (of the investigation) to be timely, evidence-based, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference”. And he “emphasised the importance of the international community coming together on this matter of critical concern”.
The UN health agency has been under intensifying pressure for a new, more in-depth investigation of how the disease that has killed more than 4 million people around the world first emerged.