China to donate additional $30mn to WHO for fight against Covid-19

Beijing will donate an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the global fight against Covid-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday. Hua tweeted the donation was aimed in particular at strengthening developing countries’ health systems and added that China had already donated $20 million to the WHO in March.

The pledge comes about a week after US President Donald Trump suspended funding to the WHO and accused the Geneva-based organization of promoting Chinese “disinformation” about the virus, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan last year.

Australia’s PM Scott Morrison said on Thursday that all member nations of the WHO should support a proposed independent review into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing also said on Thursday that Australia’s call for an independent probe into the novel coronavirus was political maneuvering. Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that China has no wildlife wet markets. He was responding to a question about US Secretary of State Pompeo’s comments calling on China to close all such markets in the country, Reuters said.