WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2020) Chinese political influence within the UN World Health Organization (WHO) damaged the organizations credibility during the coronavirus pandemic to such an extent that Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus should be asked to resign, Senator Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
"What you saw early on in this pandemic is, they [the WHO] went to China and came out saying that China is doing a great job that everything they're saying is true and then condemning not just the US but also condemning any country that considered bans on travel from or to China," Rubio said in a video clip. "I hope at a minimum we can get the leader of that organization to resign because he's definitely been politicized."
President Donald Trump has expressed similar concerns, threatening to withhold US funding for the World Health Organization due to excessive Chinese influence, although the president has avoided criticizing Ghebreyesus directly.
Earlier, Ghebreyesus told ScienceInsider that the COVID-19 response should not be politicized. The WHO chief also said, "We will have many body bags in front of us if we don't behave."
In response to criticism, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the WHO on Wednesday, calling the organization "absolutely critical to the world's efforts to win the war against COVID-19."
"Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis," Dujarric said.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that China hid the epidemic for weeks, if not months, before telling the world and that the nation continues to hide the extent of the outbreak, according to media reports.
The United States, as of Wednesday, has confirmed 404, 352 coronavirus cases - more than four times the number in China - according to Johns Hopkins University.
