Chen Enting, 34, snaps a photo of his ticket to commemorate his first ferry ride across the Yangtze River in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province after a 76-day quarantine ended in the city at the center of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP)
China has agreed to donate an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the global fight against COVID-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday. Hua said the donation was aimed in particular at strengthening developing countries’ health systems and added that China had already donated $20 million to the WHO in March.
China has decided to donate additional $30 million in cash to WHO to support its global fight against #COVID19, in particular strengthening developing countries’ health systems. China already donated $20 million in cash to WHO on March 11.
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) April 23, 2020
This comes weeks after US President Donald Trump halted US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) after he said the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump had said the body had “called it wrong” on COVID-19 and that it was very “Chinacentric” in its approach, suggesting that the WHO had gone along with Beijing’s efforts months ago to under-represent the severity of the outbreak.
China has so far, reported 82,798 cases and 4,632 deaths, although several nations feel the figures have been under reported. Wuhan, which was the epicenter of the global pandemic and had accounted for the bulk of China’s cases and deaths, now has just 69 people in treatment for Covid-19, with just two persons listed in serious condition.
Globally, over 2.6 million people have been infected while more than 1,80,000 people have been killed due to the coronavirus pandemic.