• President Trump said in the early stages of the pandemic, Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown on travel to their borders but allowed flights to leave.
• President Jinping said currently the world is at a crossroad and needs more solidarity and cooperation and not confrontation.
Image: FILE
The US President Donald Trump has maintained that China must be held responsible for unleashing Covid-19 to the world.
Trump on Tuesday said as governments across the globe move towards unprecedented prosperity and peace, it should not be forgotten that China deliberately let the world be infected.
Trump was speaking during the general debate of the 75th Session of the General Assembly of the UN.
He said so far 3 vaccines have been developed and are in the final stages of clinical trials before they are distributed.
"We shall distribute the vaccines and we shall defeat the virus and end the pandemic. We shall enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace," Trump said.
He added, "As we pursue this bright future we must hold to account the nation that unleashed this plague to the World which is China".
Trump said in the early stages of the pandemic, Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown on travel to their borders but allowed flights to leave their country to other countries.
He said, as a result, the rest of the world got infected.
"China condemned my travel ban on their country and in collaboration with WHO they falsely declared that there was no evidence of human to human transmission," Trump said.
He also accused China of dumping huge volumes of plastics to the oceans destroying coral reefs.
Trump further said if UN was to remain relevant in modern-day, it should focus on the real problems affecting the world.
"This includes terrorism, oppression on women, forced labour, drug trafficking, human and animal sex trafficking and ethnic cleansing among others," he said.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
The virus is said to have started in China's Wuhan province in December last year before spreading to other areas.
Most people who fall sick with COVID-19 experience mild to moderate symptoms and recover without special treatment.
The virus that causes COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales.
These droplets are too heavy to hang in the air and quickly fall on floors or surfaces.
You can be infected by breathing in the virus if you are within close proximity of someone who has COVID-19, or by touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.
Currently, the virus has left 31,623,173 people infected and 971,709 dead globally.
Some 23,221,102 other people have recovered from the disease.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, dismissed Trump's claims terming them baseless.
Jinping said currently the world is at a cross road and needs more solidarity and cooperation and not confrontation.
He said China will vcontinue to demand transparency in the ongoing investigations.
"No matter what other countries say China will continue to support the UN to play its central role in international affairs. Therefore the accusations on the political virus are baseless," Jinping said.
The president said humans across the world are battling Covid-19 and government's efforts and scientific exploration has been witnesses through courage, resolve and compassion to confront the disaster.
"It is evident that humanity will win the battle if we put people's lives first through targeted response...... No patient should be left untreated. In our efforts to win the battle let us follow the guidance of science," he said.
Jinping while calling on governments to reopen businesses and schools towards a global recovery said any efforts to politicise and stigmatise the virus should be rejected.
He said several vaccines developed in China are at final stages of clinical trials and will be made a global public good to developing countries on a priority basis.
"This is not the last crisis to confront humanity, the virus has taught us that we are living in an interconnected global village that share a common future and no government should take advantage of troubles of other countries,"Jinping said.
He said governments should rather embrace economic globalisation and diversity because the world will never return to isolation.
"Governments will always have differences but they should be solved through dialogue. Let those reffered to as major countries act as one and live up to people's expectations," he said.