World Health Organization (WHO) head has managed to produce a truly horrible joke, worth of the darkest corners of the internet, as he coughed amid a WHO meeting on coronavirus — and assured his colleagues he was not infected.
The executive board of the WHO convened on Monday, discussing the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus — and how to battle misinformation hysteria around it. So far, over 17,200 cases of the virus, including 361 deaths, have been registered in China, as well as over 150 cases world-wide.
Speaking at the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus coughed and interrupted his speech to take a sip of water.
“Don’t worry, it’s not corona,” he said afterwards, sparking laughter among the board and then he chuckled himself a little.
What makes the dark joke even darker is the fact that the WHO chief traveled to China last week to discuss the outbreak with the country leaders — and, therefore, no one can be really sure it’s really “not corona.”
On a more serious note, Ghebreyesus said his organization is working with Google to tackle spread of “rumors and misinformation” regarding the outbreak, to ensure that people get facts from the WHO when they search about the virus. According to the WHO chief, social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok “have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation” about the coronavirus.
