The World Health Organisation (WHO) has denied colluding with China to delay warning the world about the COVID-19 pandemic.
A German news outlet, Der Spiegel, claimed that their federal intelligence service, known as the Bundesnachrichtendienst or BND, discovered that China urged the WHO not to alert the world about the pandemic early enough.
It also alleged that the WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping, spoke over the phone on January 21st.
However, in a tweet on Sunday, the health agency labelled the report as false.
“Statement on False Allegations in Der Spiegel: Reports of a 21 Jan phone call between Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and China President Xi Jinping are unfounded and untrue,” the tweet read.
“They didn’t speak on 21 Jan and they have never spoken by phone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO’s and the world’s efforts to end #COVID-19.
“China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20th Jan. 2020.”