America blames WHO for pandemic deaths

GENEVA — The World Health Organization is directly responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, the United States charged at an international conference on Monday, in sharp contrast to other countries that backed the U.N. health agency and stressed global unity.

“There was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives,” U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said in a video message to the WHO’s annual conference, which is solely devoted to the pandemic this year.

This was one of the main reasons for the pandemic, Azar said, while also blaming China for covering up the outbreak that started in the city of Wuhan late last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended funding of the WHO in Geneva, accusing it of helping Beijing cover up how widespread and how dangerous coronavirus was after it broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

While various health ministers, country leaders and U.N. executives shared the U.S. call for a review of the WHO’s performance of the pandemic, they stressed that fighting the coronavirus is more important right now.

The virus was able to spread across the globe because countries failed to fight it together, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the WHO meeting, which was held online.

“We have seen some solidarity, but very little unity, in our response to COVID19,” he said from New York, referring to the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus.

Because many countries ignored WHO recommendations, “the virus has spread across the world and is now moving into the global south, where its impact may be even more devastating.”

Several world leaders called for increased funding for the agency, as well as for scrutiny.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that members “should continue to improve processes in the WHO,” French President Emmanuel Macron called for an “honest and rigorous assessment.”

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that he would launch such a review, reacting to a formal proposal by countries from all regions, including the European Union.