Americans at WHO transmitted real-time information to US

More than a dozen US researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organisation as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to US and international officials.

A number of CDC staffer members are regularly detailed to work at WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said.

The presence of so many US officials undercuts President Donald Trump’s assertion that the WHO’s failure to communicate the extent of the threat, born of a desire to protect China, is largely responsible for the rapid spread of the virus in the United States. The administration has also sharply criticised the Chinese government for withholding information.

But the president, who often touts a personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and is reluctant to inflict damage on a trade deal with Beijing, appears to view the WHO as a more defenseless target.

In a statement provided to The

after online publication of this article, Caitlin Oakley, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed that in January, the HHS had 17 staff members, including 16 from the CDC, at the WHO, ‘‘working on a variety of programs, including covid-19 and Ebola.’’ She emphasised that the staff members were not ‘‘decisionmakers.’’ ‘‘Furthermore, I’d add that just because you have Americans embedded in WHO providing technical assistance does not change the information you are getting from WHO leadership,’’ Oakley said. – Washington Post