Coronavirus: Must hold them accountable for unleashing COVID-19 onto world, Trump slams China

By Team Newsable | First Published Sep 23, 2020, 9:22 AM IST

US President Donald Trump called on the United Nations to hold China accountable for its actions on spreading coronavirus to the world.

Washington DC: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (September 22) slammed China for "unleashing" the plague of the "China virus" onto the world and also demanded that the United Nations must hold Beijing accountable for failing to contain the coronavirus that has killed nearly one million people across the world, including 200,000 Americans.

"75 years after the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations, we are once again engaged in a great global struggle. We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy - the China virus - which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries," Trump said in a video statement to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.

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Trump demanded that China, where the coronavirus emerged, be held accountable for failure to control the virus and for allowing it to spread across the world. "As we pursue this bright future, we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world: China," he said.

Heavily criticising Beijing, Trump said that China condemned his travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes. "In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world," Trump said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has so far infected over 30 million people and more than 958,000 people have died. The US, with 6.7 million infections, crossed the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths.

"The Chinese government, and the World Health Organization -- which is virtually controlled by China -- falsely declared that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission, Trump said. "Later, they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease. The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions."

Trump referred to the coronavirus as “China virus” and said that the world is now waging a “furious battle” against the disease. The US President then went on to list the efforts made by his country to contain the escalating health crisis. “We rapidly produced a record supply of ventilators, creating a surplus that allowed us to share them with friends,” Trump said.

He said the US launched the most aggressive mobilisation, since the Second World War, rapidly producing a record supply of ventilators, creating a surplus that allowed the country to share them with friends and partners all around the globe.

The US pioneered life-saving treatments, reducing its fatality rate 85 per cent since April. Further, thanks to US efforts, three vaccines are in the final stage of clinical trials, he said. "We are mass producing them in advance so they can be delivered immediately upon arrival, he said.

The US President said that three coronavirus vaccines were in stages of clinical trials in his country and they will be mass-produced and distributed soon. “We will defeat the virus, we will end the pandemic and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity,” he claimed.

Trump has repeatedly accused China and the World Health Organization of covering up the spread of the coronavirus in its early stages. He had declared earlier this month that the US will not join the global initiative to develop, manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine, partly due to the World Health Organisation’s involvement in the process. In May, he had cut off all ties with the global health body.

No country can gain from others' difficulties or maintain stability by taking advantage of others' troubles, Xi said. Giving the final address of his Presidency's first term to the UN before America heads into the November election, Trump said that if the United Nations is to be an effective organisation, it must focus on the real problems of the world.

(With inputs from agency)

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