Credit: UN Photo/Elma Okic  /  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO) speaks at a press conference at the UN Office in Geneva (file photo).

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   NEW  YORK  – The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned Wednesday against politicizing the coronavirus after President Trump launched a scathing attack on the global organization. Trump attacked WHO for being too  “China-centric” in its tackling of the coronavirus pandemic. “The WHO really blew it,” the president said, adding that he was considering withdrawing funding to the UN agency.  Responding to the criticism of  the agency,   WHO  Director-General  Tedros Adhenom Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 pandemic should not be politicized, emphasizing that “my short message is, please quarantine politicizing COVID.”  He warned that the political jawboning may cause more deaths.

“We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave. When there are cracks at the national level and global level, that’s when the virus succeeds”.

-WHO  Director-General  Tedros Adhenom Ghebreyesus

 Ghebreyesus  Says He Received Racist Comments  and even Death Threats 

Tedros revealed that he has received racist comments and even death threats in the three months since WHO was informed of the “pneumonia with unknown cause” that first emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of December.

 “I don’t care who says what about me. I would prefer to focus on saving lives”, he stated.

The UN health chief  also issued a plea for the need for global solidarity at this time, recalling how the United States and the former Soviet Union came together in the Cold War era to work on eradicating smallpox.

“And now the United States and China should come together and fight this dangerous enemy”, he advised, “and the rest of the world should come together to fight it”. With more than 60,000 worldwide lost to the disease, Tedros warned that more people will die without a common united front.  “For the past 100 days, our unwavering commitment has been to serve all people of the world with equity, objectivity and neutrality”, he stated. “And that will continue to be our sole focus in the days, weeks and months ahead”.