WHO agrees to investigation

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said he will initiate an independent evaluation of the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A coalition of several countries called for the review to examine the “lessons learned” from the early days of the outbreak.

Will this probe address the real concerns about the WHO? Tedros said the evaluation would exclude contentious issues like the origins of the virus. The United States has accused the WHO of helping China conceal the extent of the outbreak early on. In a letter addressed to Tedros on Monday, President Donald Trump said the agency consistently ignored early reports the virus was spreading in China. Trump said he would permanently suspend U.S. funding to the agency unless the WHO committed to “substantive improvements over the next 30 days.”

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s report about other countries’ frustrations with China’s secretiveness.