China's coronavirus death tally is significantly larger than reported and exceeds that of the United States, President Trump tweeted on Friday after China's Wuhan updated the death toll by 50%.
Earlier, President Trump challenged the World Health Organisation on Twitter on its alleged indifference to an email from Taiwanese health officials in late December warning them of the possibility of human-to-human transmission to COVID-19. The US president also asked the World Health Organisation about misleading claims it made about the coronavirus spread in January and February and why it took the organisation so long to take decisive action.
The three questions posed in the tweet refer to an opinion piece published on the Fox News site, in which the author, Hoover Institution fellow Lanhee Chen, applauded Trump's decision to cut funding to the WHO but urged the president to ask the three questions.
Taiwan published a December email last week in which it asked the WHO about the spread of COVID-19 from human to human. The mail was ignored by the agency, the island nation added.
A 14 December WHO bulletin said there was no proof of human-to-human transmission, while adding, “the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be excluded, but the risk of sustained transmission is low.”
The publication comes as President Trump withdrew funding for the organisation, which he accused of conspiring with China to conceal the actual state of affairs regarding the virus.
China has repeatedly condemned the "shameless" US allegations, noting that Beijing has done everything to be open, transparent, and accountable in regard to the ongoing pandemic.
