Amid U.S. standoff, WHO chief to address Chinese university graduates

The head of the WHO is due to give a speech to Beijing university students this week, as the U.N. body seeks to manage a resurgence of the coronavirus in China amid hostility from its biggest donor, the United States. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will deliver the graduation speech online to Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management on June 21, according to a notice from the university.

The head of the WHO is due to give a speech to Beijing university students this week, as the U.N. body seeks to manage a resurgence of the coronavirus in China amid hostility from its biggest donor, the United States.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will deliver the graduation speech online to Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management on June 21, according to a notice from the university. Washington has suspended its funding to the WHO, which President Donald Trump has accused of becoming a puppet of China for the way it has handled the coronavirus pandemic.

The WHO has rejected Trump's assertions that it promoted "disinformation" about the virus from China, where a flare-up of COVID-19 cases has stoked fears of a second wave of infections. The WHO said on Tuesday that Tedros had given hundreds of addresses since taking office nearly three years ago, including in the past two weeks a virtual speech to New York's Columbia University and a recorded one for the City University of New York.

More people have died of the coronavirus in the United States than in any other country.