Xi Jinping says China provided coronavirus information 'in a most timely fashion'
Xi was speaking at a World Health Organization virtual meeting
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says the Chinese government is allegedly trying to hack our scientists’ networks to steal coronavirus vaccine information and later argues China could have contained coronavirus by not letting Wuhan citizens travel abroad.
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GENEVA (AP) — China will provide $2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping said Monday, rallying around the World Health Organization and its efforts even as the Trump administration has slashed funding for the U.N. health agency.
The European Union's 27-member bloc and other countries, meanwhile, called for an independent evaluation of WHO's initial response to the coronavirus pandemic "to review experience gained and lessons learned."
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In a speech to the World Health Assembly, Xi said China had provided all relevant outbreak data to WHO and other countries, including the virus' genetic sequence, "in a most timely fashion."
"We have shared control and treatment experience with the world without reservation," Xi said. "We have done everything in our power to support and assist countries in need."
In this Tuesday, March 10, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping talks by video with patients and medical workers at the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua v …
The $2 billion over the next two years will support COVID-19 response efforts, particularly in developing countries, Xi said.
The EU resolution proposes that the independent evaluation should be initiated "at the earliest appropriate moment" and should, among other issues, examine "the actions of WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic."
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WHO announced the coronavirus outbreak to be a global health emergency on Jan. 30, its highest level of alert. In the following weeks, WHO warned countries there was a narrowing "window of opportunity" to prevent the virus from spreading globally.
WHO officials, however, repeatedly described the transmission of the virus as "limited" and said it wasn't as transmissible as flu; experts have since said COVID-19 spreads even faster. It declared the outbreak to be a pandemic on March 11, after the virus had killed thousands globally and sparked large epidemics in South Korea, Italy, Iran and elsewhere.
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Xi said he also supported the idea of a comprehensive review of the global response to COVID-19.
"This work should be based on science and professionalism, led by WHO and conducted in objective and impartial manner," he said.
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