AP: WHO experts to visit China to plan COVID-19 investigation
“Two World Health Organization experts were heading to the Chinese capital on Friday to lay the groundwork for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. An animal health expert and an epidemiologist will meet Chinese counterparts in Beijing to work out logistics, places to visit and the participants for a WHO-led international mission, the U.N. organization said. A major issue will be to ‘look at whether or not it jumped from species to human, and what species it jumped from,’ WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said at a briefing in Geneva…” (McNeil, 7/10).

Reuters: Veteran female leaders to head WHO COVID-19 review amid anti-globalism barbs
“Avowed multilateralists Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Helen Clark will lead a World Health Organization (WHO) panel scrutinizing the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic just as international institutions are under fire. The work by Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s former president and Clark, New Zealand’s ex-prime minister, will come into the harsh spotlight trained on the WHO by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused the agency of being in China’s pocket while letting the pandemic spiral out of control…” (Miller/Nebehay, 7/9).

Washington Post: Tearful WHO director calls for global unity to fight the virus following U.S. pullout
“World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pleaded Thursday for international unity to fight the pandemic devastating the world in the wake of President Trump’s announced intention to quit the organization. With tears in his eyes, Tedros said the true enemy was not the virus itself but ‘the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global level and national levels.’ ‘How difficult is it for humans to unite to fight a common enemy that’s killing people indiscriminately?’ he asked at a briefing in Geneva. ‘Can’t we understand that the divisions or the cracks between us actually are to the advantage of the virus?’…” (Schemm/Taylor, 7/9).

Additional coverage of Tedros’s comments and the investigative panel is available from Bloomberg, CBC, Fox News, The Guardian, IBT, NPR, Reuters (2) (3), STAT, The Telegraph, and VOA News.