US President Donald Trump blasted China in his final address of his first term to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, saying the United Nations must hold China accountable for unleashing “this plague onto the world”.
"We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy - The China virus, which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries," Trump said in a video statement.
Addressing the General Debate, Trump said the world must hold accountable "the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, China. In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically, while allowing flights to leave China, and infect the world."
"China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes. The Chinese government and the World Health Organization, which is virtually controlled by China, falsely declared that there was no evidence of human to human transmission. Later they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease," he said.
"The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,” he asserted.
Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and accused Beijing of suppressing the details of the contagion.
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far infected over 30 million people and more than 958,000 people have died. The US, with 6.7 million infections, crossed the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths.
