WHO director-general implores world leaders not to politicize the coronavirus pandemic

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
(Image credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Without directly naming President Trump, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday asked global leaders to refrain from politicizing the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Trump said he will "strongly consider" ending U.S. funding to WHO, the United Nations health agency. He said WHO "called it wrong" on the pandemic and claimed they "minimized the threat very strongly." WHO declared a global pandemic on March 11, a little more than a week after Trump said the coronavirus would "disappear" like a "miracle."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.