WHO chief urged to resign

The WHO did not declare the spread of the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern until January 31.

More than 200,000 people have signed an online petition to the United Nations for the World Health Organization (WHO) chief to resign over what the petition calls his improper handling of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

"We strongly think Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is not fit for his role as WHO Director General. We call for the Immediate Resignation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus," says the petition initiated by Osuka Yip Friday on Change.Org -- a petition website, CNA reports.

"On January 23rd, 2020. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declines to declare China virus outbreak as a global health emergency. As we all know, the Coronavirus is not treatable at the moment. The number of infected and deaths has risen more than ten times (infected from 800 - close to 10,000) within only 5 days. Part of it is related to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus under estimated the coronavirus."

The WHO did not declare the spread of the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern until January 31.

"A lot of us are really disappointed, we believe WHO is supposed to be political neutral. Without any investigation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus solely believes on the death and infected numbers that the Chinese government provided with them."

"On the other hand, Taiwan should not be excluded from WHO for any political reasons. Their technologies are far more advanced than some of the countries on the 'selected WHO list,'" the petition says.

According to statistics from Change.Org, the petition collected more than 200,000 signatures -- its original target -- in just three days.

"Let's get to 300,000," Change.Org said on its website.

Change.org is operated by for-profit Change.org, Inc., an American certified B corporation, which claims to have over 240 million users and hosts sponsored campaigns for organizations. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The website serves to facilitate petitions from members of the general public, according to Wikipedia.