US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused the Chinese Communist Party of not submitting reports on the state of the coronavirus outbreak in the country to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a timely manner.
Namely, Pompeo accused Beijing of not reporting the novel coronavirus' ability to transfer between humans for a month, until it was in every Chinese province. The secretary of state also lambasted China for not sharing virus samples with foreign countries.
Spoke with Director Yang Jiechi about U.S.-China aid and international cooperation on #COVID19. I stressed the importance of full transparency and information sharing in this fight. We'll continue to work together to defeat this pandemic and restore global health and prosperity.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) April 15, 2020
Pompeo apparently also played on unsubstantiated reports about the coronavirus allegedly originating in a Chinese lab by stating that the world can't be sure if China’s facilities are handling dangerous materials safely. He noted that in order to be sure, the international community must have access to Chinese laboratories.
At the same time, the secretary of state expressed hope that Beijing will continue to abide by the contracts that it previously signed and will continue to provide the US with personal protective equipment.
US Criticism of Chinese COVID-19 Reporting
Washington has repeatedly accused China of concealing the numbers of infected and deceased due to the COVID-19 outbreak and blasted the WHO for purportedly helping Beijing in this effort. China denies any claims suggesting that it misreported information on the outbreak at the early stages and said that it informed the WHO as soon as it had obtained any relevant information on the disease.
Chinese scientists provided the international community with the sequenced genome of the novel coronavirus as soon as they could in order for other countries to start developing a cure and vaccines.
