Trump warns of consequences if China is ‘knowingly responsible’ for COVID-19 pandemic
Sunday, 19 April 2020 (16:17 IST)
Washington: US President Donald Trump has assured that China would be held accountable, if it was found to be ‘knowingly responsible’ for the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.
The Guardian quoted Trump as saying that COVID-19 could have been stopped in China itself, but that did not happen because of which the entire world is suffering. Trump made these remarks during his daily White House briefing on Saturday.
Many senior members of the Trump administration have accused China of lack of transparency regarding it’s reporting of the Coronavirus pandemic and even referred to COVID-19 as ‘Chinese virus,’ something which China has taken offence to, labeling it as a ‘racial slur’.
At the briefing on Saturday, Coordinator of the White House Coronavirus task force, Dr Deborah Birx also questioned China’s official data, calling it ‘unrealistic,’ as she analysed a chart showing China’s death rate per 100,000 people to be far below United States and major European countries.
Dr Birx stressed that China, like other countries, had the ‘moral obligation’ to provide credible information.
On April 14, Trump had suspended US funds to the World Health Organisation (WHO), accusing it of being ‘China-centric’.
Though the American President has promised action against China, yet Americans are currently heavily reliant on China for personal protection equipment needed by American medical workers, which gives the communist nation a leverage against the United States.
The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology had in February, dismissed speculation that the virus may have been manufactured at one of it’s labs or escaped from such a facility, though Fox news has identified the likely source of the virus.
Trump also expressed his doubts on China’s official death toll, which were revised by the Communist nation on April 17. (UNI)
