Monitoring Desk:
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned a lack of leadership on a global level in tackling the novel coronavirus across the world. In a passionate appeal, the WHO Chief made an appeal to the world leaders to put their heads together to battle the deadly virus that has claimed over half a million lives globally.
“My friends, make no mistake: The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a passionate speech in Geneva on Thursday. “Rather, it’s the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global and national levels.”
His intervention will be seen as a thinly veiled swipe at leaders including US President Donald Trump, who has waged a public battle against WHO while failing to suppress the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak in his own country.
“This is a tragedy that is forcing us to miss many of our friends, losing many lives. We cannot defeat this pandemic as a divided world,” Tedros said, his voice trembling as he spoke.
The US is regularly reporting single-day record rises in cases and topped three million confirmed infections earlier this week, throwing its early attempts to reopen the economy into chaos.
The situation is almost as bleak in other regions. Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, has contracted Covid-19 after playing down its severity for months.
