The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he received a racist death threat while spearheading efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic across the globe.
The news comes as he called on countries around the world not to politicize the coronavirus pandemic.
“I can tell you personal attacks that have been going on for more than two or three months — abuses or racist comments, giving me names, black or Negro, for the first time I would make this public — even death threats,” Tedros said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
“I don’t give a damn.” He added.
Tedros called on particularly the governments of China and the US to work together to curb the spread of the COVID-19.
“If you don’t want any more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it,” Tedros said.
US President Donald Trump recently threatened to stop funding the World Health Organization efforts.
Tedros, who is in his third year of a five-year term leading the WHO, is the first African Director-General in the agency’s 72-year history.
He was elected into his role at the WHO after serving seven years as Ethiopia’s health minister, then four years as the country’s minister of foreign affairs.
