WHO chief: 'Politicizing' coronavirus will lead to 'many more body bags'

A day after Donald Trump attacked the World Health Organization, the international organization’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that politicizing the viral outbreak could lead to “many more body bags.”

On Tuesday, as part of a campaign to find a scapegoat for his administration’s failed response to the coronavirus outbreak, Trump alleged that WHO, the specialized health agency of the United Nations that has been leading the global response to the coronavirus epidemic, appeared “to be very China-centric.”

Trump said he wants to “look into” the organization, saying it purportedly “called it wrong.” Trump also floated the idea of freezing U.S. funding for the international health organization.

From an April 8 press briefing:

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, director-general, World Health Organization: At the end of the day, the people belong to all political parties. The focus of all political parties should be to save their people.

 

Please don’t politicize this virus. It exploits the differences you have at the national level. If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you do it. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.