UNITY AND SOLIDARITY PLEASE

WHO Chief to Trump: Please Do Not Politicize This Virus

Trump went after WHO at a briefing on Tuesday, saying that it got “every aspect” of the coronavirus response wrong.

The World Health Organization urged Donald Trump to avoid partisanship and embrace “unity” after the president slammed the agency for its coronavirus response. “At the end of the day, the people belong to all political parties. The focus of all political parties should be to save their people, please do not politicize this virus,” Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an address on Wednesday. “If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you do it. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.” 

Tedros added: “With unity, with solidarity, at a national level and global level, resources will not be a problem” in the fight against the virus. Trump said during a White House press conference on Tuesday that the WHO “did give us some pretty bad play calling,” adding, “They really called, I would say, every aspect of it wrong.” The agency, however, declared the coronavirus crisis a global health emergency on Jan. 30, around the time when President Trump was actively playing down its threat.