China’s COVID-19 response to face scrutiny as WHO meets today

The World Health Organisation is holding an important virtual meeting Monday where all its 194 member nations will attend, and there is speculation that the United States and other countries could demand an investigation into China’s response to the virus outbreak.

US President Donald Trump has on several occasions accused the Asian superpower of bungling the coronavirus response including efforts to suppress information and mislead WHO regarding the full extent of the outbreak.

Other European countries including Germany, Sweden have called for a probe into China’s handling of the virus which has sickened over 4.6million people and killed another 312,000 people.

The WHO meeting on Monday is the gathering of the World Health Assembly used to elect the organisation’s leaders, approve its budget, and decide policy priorities. It would have been held in Geneva, Switzerland had there not been a pandemic.

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According to WHO, at the meeting, the delegation considers and provides guidance on policies and courses of action which are then coordinated and overseen by the Secretariat.

“While WHO can make recommendations and suggest courses of action, particularly in unprecedented times of global health risk, it is ultimately up to each government to determine their response and act upon it,” says WHO.

The organisation says it lacks the power to enforce any action from individual member states.

At a time COVID-19 has led to the disruption of global economies and thousands of deaths globally, WHO will use the meeting to strengthen its case that its response to China’s handling of the virus could not have been any different.

Already the United States President has said that he would halt funding to the WHO because it has “failed in its basic duty” in its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

He accused the UN agency of mismanaging and covering up the spread of the virus after it was first reported at Wuhan China,

This led to a flurry of condemnation by governments and prominent individuals including American philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates who promised to support WHO financially.