WHO chief calls for caution on coronavirus trade and travel bans as China lashes out at US

There’s no need for disease prevention measures that “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade”, the head of the World Health Organisation stressed on Monday as China accused the US of spreading fear about a coronavirus outbreak by imposing a travel ban.

“We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the agency, told the WHO executive board.

“Global connectiveness is a weakness in this outbreak but it is also our greatest strength.”

Tedro’s call came after Beijing said Washington was spreading fear about the outbreak – which has killed more than 425 people – and had done little help to China in its time of need.

Cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed across China and in more than 25 other countries and territories, prompting various countries to close their borders with China and repatriate their citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.

But the US, which has 11 confirmed cases, has come in for the harshest criticism from China, accused of setting a “bad example” for other countries.

“Most countries appreciate and support China’s efforts to fight the novel coronavirus, and we understand and respect them when they adopt or improve quarantine measures at border entry,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.

“But in the meantime, some countries, the US in particular, have inappropriately overreacted, which certainly runs counter to WHO advice.”

The US declared a public health emergency last week and temporarily banned foreign nationals who had travelled to China in the last two weeks. It also issued a level 4 travel advisory, the highest of its kind, warning its citizens against travel to China. Most major US commercial air carriers have cut or suspended flights to and from China.

But Hua said “what the US has done could create and spread panic”, and accused Washington of not helping China in the outbreak.

“The US government hasn’t provided any substantial assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travellers,” she said.

“All it has done can only create and spread fear, which is a bad example.”

Hua said that in a “globalised world” the destinies of all countries were closely linked.

“In the face of a public health crisis, countries should work together to overcome difficulties, rather than resort to beggar-thy-neighbour practices, let alone take advantage of others’ difficulties,” she said.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that the coronavirus outbreak in China could “help” bring jobs to America as it could prompt businesses to relocate their operations away from the country, a remark that Beijing quickly criticised as being “unkind”.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday on Fox News that the US had “offered China help, but we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus”.

Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said Beijing had not responded to offers of help from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other health professionals.

“We’ve got tremendous expertise,” O’Brien said. “This is a worldwide concern. We want to help our Chinese colleagues if we can and we’ve made the offer and we’ll see if they accept the offer.”

Hua said on Monday that China welcomed any contribution US experts could make to WHO efforts.

“China will continue cooperating with the WHO and countries concerned, including the US, to safeguard the life and health of people of all countries,” she said.