Covid-19: US suspends WHO funding pending investigation of its pro-China mishandling of pandemic

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President Donald Trump speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday announcing the halt in WHO funding. (Photo courtesy: EPA)

(TibetanReview.net, Apr15’20) – As the total number of people across the world infected by the China-originated Covid-19 pandemic has crossed the grim tally of 2 million, President Donald Trump of the USA, which accounts for more than 30 per cent of those infections, said Apr 14 that he would suspend his government’s funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) while investigating its serious shortcomings in responding to the disease’s outbreak in China. The USA is the biggest contributor to the WHO budget.

“I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organisation while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” scmp.com Apr 15 quoted Trump as saying during the daily White House briefing on the pandemic. Funding would be held up during the planned 60-90 day evaluation period.

“Other nations and regions who followed WHO guidelines and kept their borders open to China accelerated the pandemic all around the world,” Trump was quoted as saying. “The WHO failed to investigate credible reports from sources in Wuhan that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts.”

“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” edition.cnn.com Apr 15 quoted Trump as saying.

Across the world the Corvid-19 pandemic had infected a cumulative total of 2,047,731 and killed 133,354 while 493,805 had recovered as of Apr 15 at 01:25:41 PM (GMT-4), according to a tally by the Coronavirus Rescues Center of the Johns Hopkins University.

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In India, a day after announcing the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3, the government announced relaxations to be implemented in areas not hit by Covid-19, especially in rural areas, from Apr 20. While all national and international public transport services as well as public gatherings for all purposes will continue to remain suspended or banned until May 3, with people’s movement also being restricted and wearing of facemasks being made compulsory, activities like agriculture, IT, e-commerce and inter-state goods transport will be allowed to “mitigate hardships to public”. Exemptions will also be granted to all health services, financial services, MNREGA works, public utilities, supply of goods, e-commerce and cargo services. The government has brought out a full list of these in its revised guidelines issued on Apr 15.

“The objective of the revised guidelines is to consolidate the gains achieved during the first phase of lockdown and further slow down the spread of Covid-19; at the same time, provide relief to farmers and labour and daily wage earners,” said the revised guidelines.

Across India, the number of people infected by the novel coronavirus reached 11,439 and the number of deaths 377, with 1,306 people having recovered as of 08:00 AM on Apr 15, according to the country’s Ministry of Health data. These represented increases by 1,076 in the number of infections and by 38 in the number of deaths over the preceding 24 hours.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state with 2,687 (+353) infections, followed by Delhi with 1,561 1,510 (+51) infections, Tamil Nadu with 1,204 (+31) infections, Rajasthan with 969 (+96) infections, Madhya Pradesh with 730 (+26) infections, Uttar Pradesh with 660 (+102) infections, Gujarat with 650 (+111) infections, Telangana with 624 (+62) infections, Andhra Pradesh with 433 (+1) infections, Kerala with 387 (+8) infections, Jammu & Kashmir with 278 (+8) infections, Karnataka with 260 (+13) infections, West Bengal with 213 (+23) infections, Haryana with 199 (+14) infections, and Punjab with 176 167 (+9) infections.

Other badly hit states/Union Territories were Bihar, 66 (+1); Odisha, 60 (+6); Uttarakhand, 37 (+2); Himachal Pradesh, 33 (+1); Chattisgarh, 33 (+2), Assam, 32 (+1); Jharkhand, 27 (+3), Chandigarh, 21 (+0); Ladakh, 17 (+2); Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 11 (+0).

Besides, Puducherry (7), Goa (7), Manipur (2), Tripura (2), Meghalaya (1), Nagaland (1), Mizoram (1), and Arunachal Pradesh (1) and had reported cases.

Maharashtra also had the most number of deaths at 178 (+18), followed by Madhya Pradesh, 50 (+7); Delhi, 30 (+2); Gujarat, 28 (+2); Telangana, 17 (+1); Punjab, 12 (+1); Tamil Nadu 12 (+1); Karnataka, 10 (+4); Andhra Pradesh, 9 (+2); West Bengal, 7 (+0); Uttar Pradesh, 5 (+0); Jammu & Kashmir, 4 (+0); Haryana, 3 (+0), Rajasthan, 3 (+0); Kerala, 3 (+0), and Jharkhand, 2 (+0). Besides Bihar, Odisha, HP and Assam had 1 death each.

(Source: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/)

In Himachal Pradesh, the number of active cases continued to be 16 with the addition of one confirmed case from Una.

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Across the world the countries with more than 1,000 cumulative infections as of Apr 15 at 01:25:41 PM (GMT-4) were: 609,516 US; 174,060 Spain; 162,488 Italy; 132,210 Germany; 131,362 France; 94,845 United Kingdom; 83,351 China; 74,877 Iran; 65,111 Turkey; 31,119 Belgium; 27,580 Netherlands; 27,063 Canada; 25,936 Switzerland; 25,684 Brazil; 24,490 Russia; 17,448 Portugal; 14,265 Austria; 12,200 Israel; 11,555 India; 11,479 Ireland; 11,445 Sweden; 10,591 Korea, South; 10,303 Peru; 8,100 Japan; 7,917 Chile; 7,603 Ecuador; 7,202 Poland; 6,879 Romania; 6,706 Denmark; 6,623 Norway; 6,440 Australia; 6,151 Czechia; 5,988 Pakistan; 5,399 Mexico; 5,369 Saudi Arabia; 5,223 Philippines; 4,987 Malaysia; 4,933 United Arab Emirates; 4,839 Indonesia; 4,465 Serbia; 3,764 Ukraine; 3,574 Panama; 3,428 Qatar; 3,307 Luxembourg; 3,286 Dominican Republic; 3,281 Belarus; 3,252 Singapore; 3,161 Finland; 2,979 Colombia; 2,643 Thailand; 2,443 Argentina; 2,415 South Africa; 2,350 Egypt; 2,170 Greece; 2,070 Algeria; 1,934 Moldova; 1,888 Morocco; 1,720 Iceland; 1,704 Croatia; 1,579 Hungary; 1,528 Bahrain; 1,400 Iraq; 1,386 New Zealand; 1,373 Estonia; 1,355 Kuwait; 1,275 Kazakhstan; 1,220 Slovenia; 1,214 Uzbekistan; 1,197 Azerbaijan; 1,111 Armenia; 1,091 Lithuania; 1,083 Bosnia and Herzegovina; and 1,012 Bangladesh.

Other countries and regions with 100 or more infections were reported to be: 910 Oman; 908 North Macedonia; 848 Cameroon; 835 Slovakia; 784 Afghanistan; 766 Cuba; 747 Tunisia; 735 Bulgaria; 712 Diamond Princess; 695 Cyprus; 666 Latvia; 659 Andorra; 641 Lebanon; 638 Cote d’Ivoire; 636 Ghana; 618 Costa Rica; 570 Niger; 528 Burkina Faso; 492 Uruguay; 475 Albania; 449 Kyrgyzstan; 419 Honduras; 397 Bolivia; 397 Jordan; 393 Malta; 393 Taiwan*; 387 Kosovo; 373 Nigeria; 372 San Marino; 363 Djibouti; 363 Guinea; 324 Mauritius; 308 West Bank and Gaza; 306 Georgia; 299 Senegal; 288 Montenegro; 267 Vietnam; 241 Congo (Kinshasa); 233 Sri Lanka; 216 Kenya; 197 Venezuela; 180 Guatemala; 161 Paraguay; 159 El Salvador; 144 Mali; 136 Brunei; 134 Rwanda; 122 Cambodia; 113 Trinidad and Tobago; 108 Madagascar; and 105 Jamaica.

Concerning the countries or cities with 100 or more deaths, the figures were shown to be: 21,067 Italy; 18,255 Spain; 15,729 France; 12,107 United Kingdom; 7,905 New York City New York US; 4,683 Iran; 4,157 Belgium; 3,495 Germany; 3,222 Hubei China; 2,945 Netherlands; 1,552 Brazil; 1,403 Turkey; 1,174 Switzerland; 1,033 Sweden; 1,001 Nassau New York US; 820 Wayne Michigan US; 608 Suffolk New York US; 596 Westchester New York US; 577 Cook Illinois US; 567 Portugal; 550 Bergen New Jersey US; 535 Essex New Jersey US; 459 Indonesia; 435 Quebec Canada; 406 Ireland; 406 Mexico; 396 India; 384 Austria; 369 Ecuador; 366 Los Angeles California US; 364 Oakland Michigan US; 357 Romania; 335 Philippines; 334 Ontario Canada; 326 Algeria; 303 King Washington US; 299 Denmark; 293 Macomb Michigan US; 287 Fairfield Connecticut US; 277 Hudson New Jersey US; 276 Orleans Louisiana US; 263 Poland; 263 Rockland New York US; 238 Union New Jersey US; 230 Peru; 225 Korea, South; 216 Middlesex New Jersey US; 210 Jefferson Louisiana US; 206 Philadelphia Pennsylvania US; 198 Russia; 192 Morris New Jersey US; 188 Middlesex Massachusetts US; 183 Dominican Republic; 178 Egypt; 178 Orange New York US; 163 Czechia; 156 Passaic New Jersey US; 153 Hartford Connecticut US; 151 New Haven Connecticut US; 149 Ocean New Jersey US; 146 Japan; 145 Monmouth New Jersey US; 141 Marion Indiana US; 139 Norway; 134 Hungary; 132 Hampden Massachusetts US; 127 Colombia; 126 Israel; 126 Morocco; 125 Miami-Dade Florida US; 125 Essex Massachusetts US; 123 Norfolk Massachusetts US; 118Suffolk Massachusetts US; 108 Ukraine; 107 Pakistan; 106 Clark Nevada US; 105 Argentina; 101 Greece; and 101 Milwaukee Wisconsin US.

(Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html)

The total number of deaths in the United States as a whole as of Apr 15 at 01.17 PM (GMT+8) was 26,056 compared to 23,649 the day before. (Source: scmp.com)

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In China, the National Health Commission reported Apr 15 morning that the mainland had 10 domestically transmitted new infections on Apr 14, but 36 what it called imported additional infections, taking the cumulative total of such imports to 1,500 as of Apr 14-end.

Mainland China reported one death on Apr 14.

It reported 11 new suspected cases, with the total of such cases now standing at 73.

Of the mainland’s total reported confirmed cases of 82,295 as of Apr 14-end, 1,137 were still being treated, 77,816 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,342 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Apr 15.

The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 113, a decline by 3 over the previous day’s total.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)

The Chinese party-government’s infection and death figures are seen as gross underreports outside the country while its suppression of information during the initial outbreak of the pandemic has been a source of anger not only in the outside world but also among the Chinese people.

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