Trump trains guns on 'China's Dr Who' as US has highest single day toll close to 2000 deaths from coronavirus
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has sought to blame the World Health Organisation (WHO) for spread of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting its controversial Ethiopian head is Beijing’s Dr WHO, even as the United States recorded nearly 2000 deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day toll in any country since the virus broke out of China late last year.
In yet another traumatic, drama-filled day, Trump threatened to withhold US funding for the organization at a critical time, and then backed off the warning, the same way he reeled back from his threat of retaliation against India if it did not supply the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine US had ordered.
In a Fox News interview, Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was “great … really good” on the issue, while expressing understanding about why New Delhi had initially banned exports – "You know they put a stop because they wanted it for India."
But WHO and its Ethiopian Director General were less fortunate as Trump launched a withering attack on them, saying "they called it wrong" and "they missed the call" in alerting the world to the coronavirus pandemic, while alleging "they seem to be very China-centric." Records show that the WHO issued plenty of alerts about the coronavirus although it did not immediately term it a pandemic.
"They could have called it months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into that very carefully and we’re going to put a hold on money spent on the WHO," Trump said, amid raging debate about his administration's handling of the situation as the US toll from the pandemic crossed 13,000.
Still, whether it is because projections were inflated or because of mitigation measures, the good news is that the eventual toll is not expected to be anywhere near even minimum fatality expectation of 100,000 dead -- a figure Trump had aired after estimates put forth by his advisors -- particularly if the social distancing and quarantine measures continue. The bad news is that the virus has now spread to rural America, which although thinly populated, also has poor healthcare infrastructure for people with poor health metrics.
Increasingly though it is also becoming clear that the aged, the poor and minorities, and the infirm are primary victims of the coronavirus in the US. One survey showed that black-majority counties have three times the number of infections and almost six times the number of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority. Black citizens make up a third of Louisiana’s population but about 70% of the state’s deaths.
Some of the most disturbing stories and videos are also coming from the frontlines of the battle against the virus, with medical care staff (including doctors and nurses), grocery store workers, and transportation and delivery personnel, speak of being in a "Chernobyl-like situation" without adequate personal protection equipment (PPE).
The Trump administration is facing scathing criticism from all but its own right-wing base over the handling of the situation, with even Republican governors complaining about the federal government’s shoddiness in responding to states’ needs as the pandemic reaches its peak in many areas. The US President, never short of self-congratulatory claims, insists that he is doing a great job while excoriating anyone who questions him on this, including calling a senior White House correspondent a “third-rate reporter” when his probing got uncomfortable.
On Tuesday, it was all about blaming the WHO despite the organization having issued alerts in January and February that Trump and the administration largely ignored even as some of the President’s own aides were drafting memos on how the situation could get very serious very fast. Trump himself has gone back and forth on China, sometimes praising it and sometimes lambasting it for its response to the pandemic. Although Trump keeps claiming that his early action in shutting down flights from China saved the US from a worse situation, it has emerged that even as the pandemic raged across the world, thousands of Chinese kept streaming into America.
Questioned again about why he kept assuring everyone through all of January and February that the situation was not serious and the virus would go away, Trump said, "You have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock. I’m not going to go out and start screaming 'this could happen, this could happen.'"
For now though, Trump has indicated that the US, which is the largest contributor to the WHO accounting for some 20 percent of its $ 4 billion-plus budget, will go after the organization and its Director General, a former Ethiopian health minister who Trump acolytes now allege became the head of the organization with China’s help. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now front and center of Trump’s fury, is a career leftist politician who has never practised as a medical doctor but has a MS in Immunology in Infectious diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
In yet another traumatic, drama-filled day, Trump threatened to withhold US funding for the organization at a critical time, and then backed off the warning, the same way he reeled back from his threat of retaliation against India if it did not supply the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine US had ordered.
In a Fox News interview, Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was “great … really good” on the issue, while expressing understanding about why New Delhi had initially banned exports – "You know they put a stop because they wanted it for India."
But WHO and its Ethiopian Director General were less fortunate as Trump launched a withering attack on them, saying "they called it wrong" and "they missed the call" in alerting the world to the coronavirus pandemic, while alleging "they seem to be very China-centric." Records show that the WHO issued plenty of alerts about the coronavirus although it did not immediately term it a pandemic.
"They could have called it months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into that very carefully and we’re going to put a hold on money spent on the WHO," Trump said, amid raging debate about his administration's handling of the situation as the US toll from the pandemic crossed 13,000.
Still, whether it is because projections were inflated or because of mitigation measures, the good news is that the eventual toll is not expected to be anywhere near even minimum fatality expectation of 100,000 dead -- a figure Trump had aired after estimates put forth by his advisors -- particularly if the social distancing and quarantine measures continue. The bad news is that the virus has now spread to rural America, which although thinly populated, also has poor healthcare infrastructure for people with poor health metrics.
Increasingly though it is also becoming clear that the aged, the poor and minorities, and the infirm are primary victims of the coronavirus in the US. One survey showed that black-majority counties have three times the number of infections and almost six times the number of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority. Black citizens make up a third of Louisiana’s population but about 70% of the state’s deaths.
Some of the most disturbing stories and videos are also coming from the frontlines of the battle against the virus, with medical care staff (including doctors and nurses), grocery store workers, and transportation and delivery personnel, speak of being in a "Chernobyl-like situation" without adequate personal protection equipment (PPE).
The Trump administration is facing scathing criticism from all but its own right-wing base over the handling of the situation, with even Republican governors complaining about the federal government’s shoddiness in responding to states’ needs as the pandemic reaches its peak in many areas. The US President, never short of self-congratulatory claims, insists that he is doing a great job while excoriating anyone who questions him on this, including calling a senior White House correspondent a “third-rate reporter” when his probing got uncomfortable.
On Tuesday, it was all about blaming the WHO despite the organization having issued alerts in January and February that Trump and the administration largely ignored even as some of the President’s own aides were drafting memos on how the situation could get very serious very fast. Trump himself has gone back and forth on China, sometimes praising it and sometimes lambasting it for its response to the pandemic. Although Trump keeps claiming that his early action in shutting down flights from China saved the US from a worse situation, it has emerged that even as the pandemic raged across the world, thousands of Chinese kept streaming into America.
Questioned again about why he kept assuring everyone through all of January and February that the situation was not serious and the virus would go away, Trump said, "You have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock. I’m not going to go out and start screaming 'this could happen, this could happen.'"
For now though, Trump has indicated that the US, which is the largest contributor to the WHO accounting for some 20 percent of its $ 4 billion-plus budget, will go after the organization and its Director General, a former Ethiopian health minister who Trump acolytes now allege became the head of the organization with China’s help. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now front and center of Trump’s fury, is a career leftist politician who has never practised as a medical doctor but has a MS in Immunology in Infectious diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Download
The Times of India News App for Latest World News
Subscribe
Start Your Daily Mornings with Times of India Newspaper! Order Now
Coronavirus outbreak
Trending Topics
LATEST VIDEOS
More from TOI
Navbharat Times
Featured Today in Travel
Get the app