GENEVA -- There is a growing online call for World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to resign, citing the slow response to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and other reasons. A petition started at the end of January on a website run by a U.S. operator to urge the WHO chief to resign, and it has garnered more than 540,000 signatures worldwide as of Thursday.
At the end of January, Tedros declared the novel coronavirus outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern," while a week ago, he decided not to issue the declaration. On March 11 an announcement was issued that the disease can be characterized as a pandemic, but Tedros had been negative about calling it a pandemic until several days before the announcement, saying "Unless we're convinced it's uncontrollable, why [would] we call it a pandemic?"
At first, Tedros said there is no need to take measures that "unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade." However, concerning lockdowns and other measures that are currently taken, Tedros has said, "But on their own, they are not enough to extinguish this pandemic," and calls on respective countries to take more aggressive measures.
The coronavirus infection has been spreading day by day, and more and more countries are starting to restrict overseas travel and taking other measures.
A person who started this online petition criticizes Tedros as having been too optimistic, saying he "under estimated the coronavirus."
Some believe that Tedros had decided not to issue an emergency declaration out of consideration for the Chinese government.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso talked about the WHO at a meeting of the House of Councillors Financial Affairs Committee on Thursday, saying, "Many argued that it should be called Chinese Health Organization."
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