WHO Chief Says Received Death Threats Over Coronavirus Response

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2020) The chief of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, said Wednesday he had faced death threats and racist insults over the UN health agency's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I can tell you personal attacks that have been going on for more than three months. Abuses or racist comments, giving me Names, black or negro ... even death threats. I do not give a damn," he told reporters at a media briefing.

He urged the global community to "please quarantine COVID politics" and stop wasting time pointing fingers at one another.

"That is what we want. We do not care about personal attacks. We care about the life passing every single minute unnecessarily because we could not unite and fight this virus," Tedros said.

Asked to comment on US President Donald Trump, who accused the agency on Tuesday for being "China-centric," Tedros said that WHO was close to every nation and was "color-blind" as well as "wealth-blind."

"For us small and big is the same. For us people in the North or in the South, East or West are the same," he said, adding the media should advocate for unity in the fight against the virus, instead of fanning the flames of discord.

WHO has been criticized for trusting China's statistics and taking too long to declare a pandemic, which has infected more than 1.45 million since emerging in Wuhan in December. More than 83,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.