(Photo: To match Special Report HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/WHO-TEDROS Naohiko Hatta/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday announced that his country will release $2 billion to help other nations tackle the ill effects of the global coronavirus crisis.
Xi, the influential figure of the second biggest economy in the globe, where the virus known as Covid-19 emerged late in 2019, spoke via video link at the launching of a major World Health Organization meeting.
The funding, Xi stated, will be provided over the next two years and will be given out to developing nations as they try to combat the crisis.
The Chinese government backs a detailed study of the world's efforts to contain the pandemic, spearheaded by the WHO after the disease is brought under control, Xi disclosed on Monday.
The Chinese president's comments came as a proposal being worked out by Australia and the European Union that calls for a validation of the origin and spread of the virus gathers global interest. Covid-19 has claimed the lives of over 310,000 people around the world.
During his address, Xi looked to offer a distinction between himself and United States president Donald Trump, speaking of global partnership and solidarity while feeling the pain of death around the world and calling for increased support for the WHO.
Xi also said that as soon as Chinese scientists and medical experts come up with a Covid-19 drug, it will be made available for the whole world.
For his part, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, in attendance on behalf of Trump, criticized the WHO for the way it dealt with the pandemic. In a report by Tom O'Connor published by Newsweek on May 18, Azar was quoted as saying that the WHO failed to "obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives."
Washington has stopped its financial support to the United Nations agency last month over allegations that it was too focused on China in its management of the crisis. The US has since continued to threten to withhold WHO funds pending an evaluation of its performance.
A decision-making body of the WHO, the 73rd World Health Assembly kicked off on Monday. The gathering of 194 members usually takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, where delegates agree upon the organization's priorities, vision, and financial structure.
China has five potential Covid-19 drugs undergoing clinical tests, as nations around the globe scramble to discover a treatment against the virus. More vaccine candidates are being developed and awaiting authorization for human trials, Zeng Yixin, deputy director of China's National Health Commission, disclosed last week, as per report by CNA.
