JAKARTA - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said now is not the time to assess the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he asked the international community to focus on working together to stop the spread of the virus.
"Once we finally turn the page about this epidemic, there must be time to fully look back and understand how such a disease emerged and spreads its devastation so rapidly around the world, and how all those involved are reacting to this crisis. But now is not the time," he said. Guterres in a statement.
Guterres issued this statement after President of the United States (US) Donald Trump sharply criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) which he considered only focused on China and issued bad advice during the COVID-19 outbreak. Trump also said his administration was considering delaying funding for the organization.
“This virus is unprecedented in our lives and requires an unprecedented response. Obviously, under such conditions, it is possible that the same fact has different interpretations by different entities, "said Guterres.
"Now is the time to unite for the international community to work together in solidarity in an effort to stop this virus and its devastating consequences," he said.
Previously, authorities from the World Health Organization (WHO) denied that their organization was "China-centric" and said cutting funding in the acute phase of a pandemic like now is not the right time.
The US contribution to WHO in 2019 was more than US $ 400 million, nearly double the amount contributed by the second largest country in the world, according to the US State Department. Meanwhile, China spent 44 million US dollars for the WHO.
"We are still in the acute phase of the pandemic so now is not the time to cut funding," Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said.
Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the Director General of WHO, also defended WHO's relationship with China. He said relations with Beijing authorities were critical to understanding the spread of the outbreak.
"It is very important in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to come down straight and work with China to understand this," said Aylward.
"This kind of thing is something we do with every hard-hit country like Spain and it has nothing to do with China in particular," he added.
Aylward, who led a WHO mission to China in February, defended WHO's recommendation to keep US borders open. He said China had worked very hard to identify and detect early cases.
He also said his party would provide a brief personal briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic to the 15-member UN Security Council at the request of two-thirds of the agency's members.
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