Nothing hidden from member states, CDC experts on board: WHO chief

• Some 15 staff from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have been seconded to the UN agency since January.
• The WHO has placed orders for 30 million diagnostic tests over the next 4 months and is shipping nearly 180 million surgical masks in April and May.

GENEVA: US experts have been an important part of the World Health Organization (WHO) fight against COVID-19 since the outbreak began, and nothing has been "hidden" from any member state, senior WHO officials said on Monday.

Some 15 staff from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have been seconded to the UN agency since January, they said. "Having US CDC staff means there is nothing hidden from the US, from day one," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general told a news conference.

Tedros - whose handling of the pandemic has been criticised by US President Donald Trump who suspended funding last week - said that divisions between people and political parties were "fueling" the pandemic, but was not specific.

The WHO has placed orders for 30 million diagnostic tests over the next 4 months and is shipping nearly 180 million surgical masks in April and May, he said. More than 600 hospitals are now ready to enroll patients in WHO's so-called Solidarity Trial of drugs against the disease, he added.