WHO boss pleads for world to come together again after coronavirus, 'prevent the next' pandemic

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The head of the World Health Organization is pleading with global leaders to come together after the coronavirus pandemic to “prevent the next” global health trauma.

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The WHO tweeted: "I continue to call for the world to come together in solidarity and national unity to confront the #COVID19 pandemic, but also to prevent the next one, and to build a healthier, safer, fairer world for everyone, everywhere"- @DrTedros

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the Ethiopian politician who has led the United Nations-backed health body as director-general since July 2017.

The WHO increasingly has come into the spotlight in recent weeks for its role in the coronavirus outbreak, which culminated in the Trump administration temporarily halting funding.

The U.S. has been conducting a full-scale investigation into whether the coronavirus, which went on to morph into a global pandemic, escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, Fox News reported earlier this month.

Sources said they believed the WHO, a United Nations body, either was complicit in a cover-up or looked the other way. Publicly, the WHO has insisted there was no evidence it originated in the laboratory.

Tedros said all countries should have heeded the agency’s warning when it declared COVID-19 to be a global emergency on Jan. 30, when there were only 82 cases of the disease beyond China.

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In his statement, Tedros said that WHO will play a key role in a COVID-19 vaccine.

He also called on health services to provide for children.

He said: “This week is World Immunization Week. Immunization is one of the greatest success stories in the history of global health.”