China-US tensions flare up at UN over coronavirus pandemic

China has accused the US president of spreading what it referred to as a “political virus” in the United Nations General Assembly after Donald Trump blamed Beijing for the coronavirus outbreak.

During his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump lashed out at Beijing over what he called the “China virus,” and claimed that Beijing had "unleashed this plague onto the world" by shutting down travel domestically and allowing flights abroad.

The US president also said the world "must hold China accountable for their actions" related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at UN, Trump accuses China of spreading COVID-19

US President Trump has once again blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic and called on Beijing to be punished for its handling of the disease.

"When the international community is really fighting hard against the Covid-19, the United States is spreading a political virus here in the General Assembly," China's ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, told reporters.

"I have to emphasize that the US noise is incompatible with the general atmosphere of the General Assembly," Zhang added.

Trump has repeatedly sought to blame China for the pandemic and has on several occasions accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of siding with Beijing over alleged delaying of an inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Trump administration has claimed there is “enormous evidence” that the new coronavirus purportedly originated in a lab in China, an allegation categorically rejected by the WHO and various scientific experts.

WHO, intel reject Trump, Pompeo’s claim COVID-19 came from Wuhan lab

The World Health Organization says the US had provided no evidence to support US President Donald Trump’s claim that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.

Beijing has also strongly denied such “unfounded” lab claims regarding the origin of the contagious disease, which was transmitted from wildlife to people in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

The new disease has so far infected more than 31 million people across the globe and killed over 970,000 others.

Washington defends coronavirus handling

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended on Tuesday Washington's handling of the covid-19 pandemic after the country passed the grim milestone of 200,000 coronavirus deaths and said the number of fatalities could have been as much as ten times higher.

"As you’ve heard several doctors in the task force note from this podium, we were looking at the prospect of 2 million people potentially perishing from the coronavirus in this country," McEnany said at a press briefing when asked for her message to Americans who may be "outraged" by the administration's handling of the pandemic.

"We grieve when even one life is lost," she claimed. "But the fact that we have come nowhere near that number is a testament to this president taking immediate action."

Asked if Trump planned to acknowledge the 200,000 deaths on Tuesday, McEnany declined to comment but said the president had expressed his condolences "throughout this pandemic."

Trump acknowledged when 100,000 Americans had died as a result of the pandemic with a tweet.

The United States became on Tuesday the first country to record over 200,000 deaths, which accounts for more than one-fifth of the global tally, and tops the aggregate number of Americans killed in both World War One and the Vietnam War.

The US also has the most covid-19 infections in the world, with cases nearing 6.9 million.

US weekly blasts Trump over failure to contain pandemic

The weekly Time magazine has faulted US President Donald Trump’s administration for a poor response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has been under fire for publicly downplaying the threat of the pandemic when it broke out in the US in late February, and his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

US media said the president had received multiple heads-ups about the looming catastrophe as the coronavirus started to spread, but failed to mobilize for a major pandemic.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has recently blamed the high number of fatalities on what he called Trump’s lies and incompetence.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk