China backed calls for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, but only after the pandemic is under control, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday. Addressing a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, Xi said China supports a “comprehensive evaluation” of the global response to the pandemic, after it “has been brought under control. A European Union-drafted resolution calling for a probe into both how the pandemic began as well as the responses to it is expected to gain approval this week. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne comments in Penrith, Australia, May 18, 2020.Australia has been among the most vocal proponents of such an investigation, and Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Monday it wants the effort to be “impartial, independent and comprehensive.” “We’re very encouraged by the growing levels of support for this comprehensive World Health Assembly motion,” she said. The novel coronavirus was first publicly identified in China in late December and has spread around world, killing more than 315,000 people and infecting at least 4.7 million. Xi reiterated Monday China’s stance that it has always been “transparent” about its knowledge of the virus. He also announced at Monday’s assembly that China would devote $2 billion for the fight against COVID-19 over two years, especially focused on developing countries. President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential recognition ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington.U.S. President Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of China’s initial response to the virus. He also suspended funding to the WHO, contending the agency failed in its “basic duty” to investigate early reports out of China about the coronavirus in December last year. Governments around the world have instituted stay-at-home orders, and encouraged those who go out in public to practice social distancing and wear face masks in order to stop the spread of the virus. Those efforts have brought economies to a halt, with Japan the latest country to report Monday that its economy slid into recession in the first quarter of this year. With some countries, particularly those in Europe, seeing vast progress in bringing down death tolls and the rates of new infections, leaders are lifting restrictions. Belgium on Monday allowed markets and museums to open once again, while more students returned to schools. International travel restrictions are still in place in many areas, but popular tourist sites are also reopening, including Greece’s Acropolis in Athens and the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Basilica. In India, a surge in new infections has led the government to extend its nationwide lockdown through the end of the month. It reported more than 5,000 new cases and 157 deaths Monday. Workers disinfect densely populated neighborhoods in Cairo, March 24, 2020. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)Egypt is closing shops, beaches and parks during the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, while also instituting a nighttime curfew. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced a 30-day extension of his government’s lockdown order, but late Sunday the country’s attorney general filed a lawsuit alleging Bukele’s action was unconstitutional. Bukele countered on Twitter that his position gives him the power to declare a state of emergency. The United States, the world’s leader in the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths, with about 1.5 million confirmed cases and 90,000 deaths, is gradually easing restrictions, albeit at a different pace in different regions. Health officials in the northwestern state of Oregon said they have acquired enough of the Ebola drug remdesivir to treat all eligible COVID-19 patients. The drug has been used in trials in a number of hospitals, and early results suggest it could speed recovery time. FILE – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds his daily briefing at New York Medical College during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Valhalla, New York, May 7, 2020.And in New York state, the hardest-hit in the United States, Governor Andrew Cuomo said anyone who has symptoms or is returning to work is now able to get a coronavirus test. Many areas of the United States have struggled to carry out as many tests as health officials would want because of a lack of supplies.
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