Had the World Health Organisation (WHO) not supported China in spreading false narratives about the COVID-19 outbreak, the world would not have been thrown in the mighty sea of the pandemic, and lives of over 100,000 people could have been saved. Information available in the public domain and the statements issued by the international public health agency raise doubts and suspicion over the WHO’s role if it hid the real situation about coronavirus crisis in China and delayed the announcement of the pandemic for political reasons. Was it a case of quid pro quo? The current chief of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, could grab the plum position in 2017 after Beijing supported his candidature over the bonhomie between the two for years.
 
In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping had informed the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCP) about the spread of the epidemic and launching “people’s war” to curb it. Quishi, the widely circulated CCP journal, wrote about the crisis and Jinping’s speeches in details. Yet, the WHO failed to take cognisance of the grave situation and kept the rest of the world in dark. The question lingers in everyone’s mind, why?
The WHO on January 14 misled the world by saying that “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China.” It helped China to play down the severity, prevalence and scope of the COVID-19 outbreak. The WHO declared a virus pandemic on March 11, when the infection had penetrated 14 countries and infected 114,000 people, resulting to over 4,000 deaths.
 
The truth behind why the WHO failed in its duty may appear in an objective inquiry. However, the available evidences show the China’s pressure on Tedros is a major reason. The credibility of the WHO is now facing unprecedented credibility crisis owing to the discontent against the Tedros for giving China a clean chit when the world was inching toward possible health disaster. Tedros went on an extra mile to protect China by lauding its efforts in tackling coronavirus outbreak at the different global platforms. “China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response,” he said, too quick to exonerate the Communist China, after making a visit to Beijing. Later, at the Munich Security Conference, he said that the China's actions had “bought the world time”.
 
The links between China and Tedros had been known much before he became the Director General of the WHO. He pushed for stronger cooperation between China and the Global South on health issues when he was asked to deliver speech at the Peking University. The close relations however become more evident after he openly supported the “One China” principle on the WHO’s behalf.
 
WHO executive committee member John Mackenzie has flayed Tedros without mentioning his name for his slant towards China. “The WHO’s weak response to China’s mishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak has laundered China’s image at the expense of the WHO’s credibility,” Mackenzie said.  
 
China forced its scientists to destroy all proofs about the coronavirus and punished the whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang for warning people about the possible health calamity in the early stage of the outbreak. Yet, the WHO chief turned a blind eye to the extent of coronavirus spread and praised Beijing for “transparency”.  
“We appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated, including sharing data and genetic sequence of the virus,” Tedros said on January 28 even as the number of confirmed cases had crossed 45,000- figure and the source of Covid-19 was not revealed yet. 
The result of the complicity between Tedros and Beijing to underreport the severity of the deadly virus has cost the world dearly as nearly 200,000 people across the globe have lost their lives so far. The pressure from Beijing also forced Tedros to take China’s side and advised countries not to “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade” as several countries suspended direct flight from and to China about a few weeks ago.  “We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent,” he said.
Even after the WHO was slammed by the world, Tedros-led organisation continued echoing the false talks peddled by Beijing. "Yesterday, Wuhan, reported no new cases for the first time since the #COVID19 outbreak started,” the WHO tweeted in the third week of March when the investigative news reports about how China lied about deaths in Hubei started surfacing.
 
Now, a resolution has been introduced in the US Congress seeking to withhold funding from the WHO until Tedros resigns from his post. “The WHO helped the Chinese Communist Party hide the threat of COVID-19 from the world and now more than 10,000 Americans are dead…It is not right that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are being used to propagate China’s lies and hide information that could have saved lives. This bill will hold the WHO accountable for their negligence and deceit,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler.
 
Now, an online petition demanding Tedros’ resignation has earned nearly 1 million signatures, signalling growing discontent against the unholy axis between China and the WHO.