CORONAVIRUS | US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday sharpened his criticism of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying its ruling Communist Party was still denying the world information it needs to prevent further cases.
In an interview with the Washington Watch radio programme, Pompeo (photo) repeated previous charges that Beijing’s delay in sharing information about the virus had created risks to people worldwide and said this had “truly put thousands of lives at risk”.
“My concern is that this cover-up, this disinformation that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in, is still denying the world the information it needs so that we can prevent further cases or something like this from recurring again,” Pompeo added.
The coronavirus which is believed to have originated in Wuhan in China's Hubei province late last year has now claimed the lives of over 18,000 people.
China's death toll stands at 3,277 from 81,171 confirmed cases.
The US is currently coping with the pandemic as it suffered 695 deaths and nearly 10,000 new cases yesterday. - Reuters