US health secretary: WHO failure to obtain information cost many lives
The US has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of allowing the Covid-19 outbreak to spin "out of control" at the cost of "many lives".
"At least one member state made mockery of their transparency obligations, at tremendous cost for the entire world," US Health Secretary Alex Azar said in an address to the UN World Health Assembly.
US President Donald Trump has blamed China for trying to cover up the outbreak and has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said at Monday's virtual meeting that his country had acted "with openness and transparency".
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier agreed to an independent review of the agency's handling of the pandemic.