WHO chief to address Beijing University graduates amid US standoff

Amid the soaring tensions between the United States and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the chief of the UN body, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is set to give a speech to Beijing university students. According to a notice from Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, the WHO Director-General will be delivering the graduation speech online on June 21. 

The notice published on the official site of the university read, “Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) will hold its Commencement 2020 on June 21. This year, Tsinghua SEM is honored to have Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to deliver the Commencement Speech online”. 

Tedros’ commencement speech comes as the UN body seeks to manage the resurgence of the deadly coronavirus in China. It also comes amid hostility from its biggest donor, the US. The American President Donald Trump has time and again accused the UN body of being ‘China-centric’. Trump also claimed that WHO had ‘failed’ in its basic duty and accused the organisation of becoming a ‘puppet’ of China for the way it handled the pandemic. 

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Resurgence of COVID-19 in China

While WHO rejected Trump’s assertion and reportedly said that it promoted ‘disinformation’ about the virus, China is witnessing the emergence of new COVID-19 cluster. Beijing, prior to June 11, had registered zero cases every day for 56 days, however, the country recently recorded over 100 cases. With the resurgence of new COVID-19 cases, the Chinese authorities also declared martial law in the city of Baoding, Hubei Province. 

Currently, over 80 coronavirus infected people are receiving treatment in the Chinese capital. With an increasing number of cases, the authorities were forced to take drastic steps. As per new regulations, all the hospitals in Beijing are now required to perform a nucleic acid test, antibody tests, CT scan and routine blood tests on all patients with a fever, a Chinese news agency reported citing Beijing ‘s Health commission. Earlier, authorities in Beijing had only made nucleic acid tests mandatory. 

(Image: AP)

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