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U.S. WHO scientists relayed coronavirus information to Trump during the COVID-19 outbreak.
U.S. health experts briefed President Donald Trump in real time about the emergence of COVID-19 in China while working full-time at World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva in late 2019.
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A dozen U.S. researchers, doctors and experts were at WHO headquarters when the new coronavirus outbreak began in China.
They kept the Trump administration informed of its discovery and spread, U.S. and international officials said.
The fact that these officials were aware of COVID-19 developments violates Trump's complaint to WHO.
A group of U.S. officials working at WHO transmitted real-time info about the coronavirus directly to the Trump admin.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 20, 2020
The communication undercuts Trump's assertion that the virus' spread in the U.S. largely stems from a lack of communication from WHO. https://t.co/P3Dg3IwSLJ
The White House chief said the WHO is responsible for the spread of the virus in the United States by trying to cover China at the beginning of the outbreak.
Senior health officials appointed by Trump to be at WHO in the days of the outbreak regularly consulted at the highest levels of WHO as the crisis unfolded.
However, Trump, who often touts a personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seems to regard the WHO as a more helpless target.
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