WHO agrees an investigation to China for its initial management of the pandemic

His failures have claimed many lives." The United States government yesterday set fire to the World Health Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization, in a vehement speech in which the head of health policy of the Trump Administration accused China and the international organization itself negligence and concealment of information. At the same time, more than 110 countries out of the 194 members are preparing a resolution demanding an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

"In an apparent attempt to hide the start of the outbreak, at least one member state here turned its transparency commitments into a great mockery , with a very serious price to pay for the whole world," said Alex Azar, secretary (minister) of US Health, referring to China. "Furthermore, we know that WHO failed in its primary mission of sharing information and being transparent when one of its member states failed to act in good faith. This can never happen again, "added Azar.

Virtual meeting

The World Health Assembly meets once a year to determine WHO policies. On this occasion, the meeting, which is held this Monday and Tuesday by videoconference, focuses on the coronavirus outbreak, which as of yesterday had claimed 315,000 lives , with at least five million people infected.

More than 110 countries, including members of the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Russia, among others, are preparing a resolution supporting an original idea from the United States. that China undergo an independent investigation into its actions to prevent a coronavirus outbreak from becoming a global pandemic. The seven-page resolution does not expressly mention China but does call for an "impartial, independent and thorough investigationto evaluate the lived experience and lessons learned from the international response, coordinated by the WHO, to Covid-19 ». That resolution, circulated yesterday, will be debated and voted this Tuesday, but it already has the necessary support to be approved.

The truth is that the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom, anticipated these requests and in his inaugural address in the Assembly accepted an investigation in a preventive way, although he said that it will have to wait "at the right time." While the coronavirus remains uncontrolled, Tedros said, member countries should keep their financial contributions to the WHO. The WHO's fears of losing its funds are not unfounded. Last month Donald Trump ordered a freeze on US contributions. WHO, which last year amounted to a fifth of the $ 4.4 billion of WHO's total budget. In this context, Chinese President Xi Jinping intervened in person by videoconference in the assembly to promise 2 billion in the fight against the coronavirus, especially for developing nations. In principle, knowing that it is in the minority, China accepted the international investigation, something that it had rejected to date. However, Xi defended yesterday that his regime has acted "with transparency and responsibility."