U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China and the World Health Organization of major failures at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday morning.
Pompeo – using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) own rulebook – slammed the Chinese Communist Party for not sharing relevant information about the coronavirus outbreak, and the WHO for not policing the matter appropriately.
The Secretary of State explained that the CCP has still not shared the virus sample from Wuhan province, China.
Speaking this morning Pompeo commented: “China didn’t share all the information it had. It covered up how dangerous the disease is. It didn’t report sustained human-to-human transmission for a month, until it was inside every province in China. It censored those who tried to warn the world… and it destroyed existing samples.
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“The CCP has still not shared the virus sample from inside of China with the outside world, making it impossible to track the disease’s evolution.”
He added: “The World Health Organization’s regulatory arm clearly failed during this pandemic,” referring to the obligation to share viral samples and the policing of such matters according to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of 2005.
Pompeo implied the responsibility for such matters rests with the WHO’s chief, Dr. Tedros.
The IHR states: “Each State Party shall assess events occurring within its territory… Each State Party shall notify WHO, by the most efficient means of communication available… and within 24 hours of assessment of public health information, of all events which may constitute a public health emergency of international concern within its territory in accordance with the decision instrument, as well as any health measure implemented in response to those events…
“…If a State Party has evidence of an unexpected or unusual public health event within its territory, irrespective of origin or source, which may constitute a public health emergency of international concern, it shall provide to WHO all relevant public health information.”
The news follows the announcement from
