UN chief calls for unity
after Trump slams WHO
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on Wednesday said it was not the time to criticize the early response
to the coronavirus pandemic, after US President Donald Trump attacked the World
Health Organization.
"Once we finally turn the page on this epidemic there must
be a time to look back fully ... But now it is not that time," Guterres
said in a statement.
"Now is the time for unity, for the international community
to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering
consequences."
Trump, whose own response to the crisis has been widely
criticized, on Tuesday accused the WHO of reacting slowly.
"They called it wrong. They really missed the call. They
could have called it months earlier," he said.
He questioned why the WHO had given "such a faulty
recommendation," apparently referring to its earlier advice against
curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from
China.
Guterres said the WHO "is on the front lines, supporting
member states and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them,
with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services."
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday also urged
leaders to stop politicizing the pandemic and issued a stern defense of the
body s work.