Published 16:35 IST, April 3rd 2020
Donald Trump Jr agrees 'WHO should be renamed as Chinese Health Organisation'
Japanese Vice PM said WHO should be called "Chinese Health Organisation" and Donald Trump Jr has said on April 3 that he agrees with him amid COVID-19 crisis.
In an unprecedented and a blunt attack on the United Nations health agency WHO, Japanese Vice Prime Minister Tarō Asō said it should be called “Chinese Health Organisation” and now the United States President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr has publically showcased his support to Tarō. The comments by Japanese PM came as the global infections crossed one million and fatalities soared over 53,000 where he accused the World Health Organisation of favouring China while condemning the body for neglecting Taiwan.
After US President calling the coronavirus as “Chinese Virus” because it had originated in China’s Wuhan in December 2019, Japanese Vice PM blasted the WHO and said it should be called “CHO” or “China Health Organisation”. Tarō added that if WHO had taken the cautions by Taiwan into consideration instead of denying the possibility of a pneumonia pandemic from China, everybody would have taken the required precautions. Japanese deputy PM even accused the former director-general of the global health body Margaret Chan of poor accountability. Now, Donald Trump Jr has also declared that he agrees with the comments made by Tarō to lash out on WHO.
The coronavirus, which originated in China in December 2019, has now claimed over 53,238 lives worldwide as of April 3. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 204 countries and has infected at least 1,016,395 people. Out of the total infections, 213,133 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.
Taiwan accuses WHO of delayed action
Japanese Vice PM's comments came after Taiwan had already accused the World Health Organisation of not communicating an early caution about human-to-human transmission and slowing the drastic spread of the pandemic. According to international media reports, health officials in Taipei had alerted the UN health agency at the end of December about the risk of the pathogen being transmitted between humans. However, the officials also said that their concerns were not passed on to other countries.
According to reports, the Taiwanese doctors had learned from their colleagues in mainland China where the fatal virus was originated in December 2019 that the medical staff were falling ill from then-unnamed Coronavirus. It was the signal that the COVID-19 was being passed among humans and the WHO was made aware of the same on December 31. However, it was not communicated to other countries who later struggled to stem the spread of Coronavirus.
Updated 16:25 IST, April 3rd 2020