WHO discouraged Nigeria from banning travels from China–Onyeama
WHO discouraged Nigeria from banning travels from China–Onyeama
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) discouraged Nigeria from stopping travels from China at the initial time Coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China.
Nigeria has lost Abba Kyari, one of the most influential persons in the government, and possibly the most influential African yet to die of Coronavirus.
“We have had our experiences from other epidemics like Ebola. We approach the World Health Organisation to see if we can ban travels from China, but the WHO did not accept that”, Onyeama said on Thursday at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 press conference in Abuja.
The United States of America has similar report against the WHO which made the US President, Donald Trump, to cut the US funding for the WHO.
Germany has accused China of withholding vital information about Coronavirus and misinforming the world. Germany is claiming ‘damages’ from China.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Chinese operatives helped spread false messages that claimed the Trump administration was planning to impose a nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to The New York Times.
The Times says the messages, which first appeared last month as cellphone texts and social media feeds, claimed President Donald Trump would announce the lockdown as soon as troops were in place “to help prevent looters and rioters.” The messages became so widespread over the next two days the National Security Council was prompted to issue a statement on Twitter declaring them as fake.
The newspaper based its story on information from six American officials from six different agencies who spoke to them on condition of anonymity. Two of the officials said they believed the messages were not created by Chinese operatives, but instead amplified existing ones.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry called the accusations “complete nonsense and not worth refuting.”
The U.S. and China have engaged in a back-and-forth information war over who is to blame for the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Trump has in the past labeled the disease the “Chinese virus,” referring to the fact that the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, while other U.S. officials have accused Beijing of a lack of transparency at the start of the outbreak. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had accused the U.S. Army of transporting the virus to Wuhan in a post on Twitter last month. U.S. officials rejected the allegation.
Earlier, the US said that “It (US WHO Funding) hasn’t accomplished what it was intended to deliver,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alongside Trump briefing by the White House coronavirus task force.
But officials at the U.N. and WHO pushed back on Trump’s threat.
“It is possible that the same facts have had different readings by different entities,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis.”
“The lessons learned will be essential to effectively address similar challenges, as they may arise in the future. But now is not that time,” added Guterres in a statement Wednesday. “Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.”
“Please don’t politicize this virus,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an emotional briefing in Geneva when he was asked about Trump’s remark. “If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”
Tedros held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron who expressed his support for the WHO.
A French presidential official said Macron reaffirmed his belief that the organization is key to responding to the pandemic, and that it should not be locked in a battle between the United States and China.
Some U.S. cable networks have stopped airing the full daily White House coronavirus task force briefings, cutting in and out of live coverage, having made that decision because of the frequent political nature of some of the president’s comments.
Earlier, Trump criticized that approach to the briefings in a tweet, saying “Radical Left Democrats” had tried to shame “the Fake News Media into not covering them, but that effort failed because the ratings are through the roof.…”
The Radical Left Democrats have gone absolutely crazy that I am doing daily Presidential News Conferences. They actually want me to STOP! They used to complain that I am not doing enough of them, now they complain that I “shouldn’t be allowed to do them.” They tried to shame…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
The president, a former host of a reality television program, described viewership as on the level of “Monday Night Football” and the finale of “The Bachelor.”
…the Fake News Media into not covering them, but that effort failed because the ratings are through the roof according to, of all sources, the Failing New York Times, “Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale” type numbers (& sadly, they get it $FREE). Trump Derangement Syndrome!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
That comparison generated criticism.
“It takes a certain twisted mind to take pleasure in the fact that more people are watching him because more people are dying,” tweeted a Clinton-era White House press secretary, Joe Lockhart. “It doesn’t even matter that most people who are watching are throwing things at the TV and his ratings for handling the crisis are plummeting.”
- It takes a certain twisted mind to take pleasure in the fact that more people are watching him because more people are dying. It doesn’t even matter that most people who are watching are throwing things at the TV and his ratings for handling the crisis are plummeting. Like
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) April 8, 2020