The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Wednesday warned countries that politicizing the global coronavirus crisis could lead to more deaths after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized WHO and threatened to cut off funding for the international public health organization.
In response to the criticism at a news conference in Geneva, Tedros urged countries to avoid politicizing the pandemic “if you don’t want to have more body bags.”
“Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences,” Tedros added.
Trump, who has been widely criticized for not reacting more swiftly and aggressively to combat the spread of the virus in the U.S., tweeted Tuesday that “the WHO really blew it” and charged the organization with being “very China centric.” He also said he would consider cutting off millions in U.S. aid to WHO.
More than 13,000 deaths have been reported in the U.S. as of Wednesday, trailing only Italy and Spain, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
In New York state, the coronavirus hot spot in the U.S., 779 deaths were reported Wednesday, the state’s highest one-day death toll to date. But Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Wednesday that social distancing seemed to be working as the number of hospitalized patients has decreased in recent days.
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