WHO slams US Covid intel as curbs tightened in Europe

Wuhan, Feb. 10: A WHO expert sent to China to probe the coronavirus hit out at US intelligence on Covid-19 as his team headed home with few answers about the origin of a pandemic that was forcing more clampdowns in some of the hardest-hit parts of the world.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was set to seek an extension of strict virus curbs, as the European Commission chief addressed the stumbling vaccination rollout on the continent — which accounts for a third of the 2.3 million Covid-19 deaths worldwide.

The Coronavirus has infected close to 107 million people, devastating the global economy, and questions over the handling of the initial outbreak in central China have sparked an intense diplomatic row between Washington and Beijing.

The WHO mission to the ground zero city of Wuhan wrapped up on Tuesday without any concrete answers, with Washington again expressing scepticism about China’s transparency and cooperation.

But WHO team member Peter Daszak tweeted: “Please don’t rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under Trump & frankly wrong on many aspects.” He said they worked “flat out under the most politically charged environment possible”.

China had repeatedly delayed the WHO trip, and bristled at accusations of a lack of transparency.

Beijing warned Washington not to “politicise” the mission after the White House demanded a “robust” probe.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the United States supports the investigation. But when asked if China had fully cooperated with the WHO, he said: “The jury’s still out.” The WHO team did not identify which animal transferred the Coronavirus to humans. —