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."

More than 83,000 people have died worldwide from COVID-19, and at least 1.4 million people have been infected. When asked about Trump's comments, Tedros said, "Why would I care about being attacked when people are dying? I know that I am just an individual. Tedros is just a dot in the whole universe." The most important thing now is to save lives, he said, and there is "no need to use COVID to score political points. You have many other ways to prove yourself. If you don't want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it."

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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.