The World Health Organization (WHO) kicked off the first virtual session of the World Health Assembly today (May 18), experts say that tensions between the United States and China could affect concrete steps needed to tackle the coronavirus.

According to a reports, the duration of the annual meeting of the World Health Organization has been reduced from 3 weeks to 2 days, which is likely to focus only on the coronavirus.

In the last few months, 4.7 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide and more than 310,000 have died.

The meeting is expected to be attended by heads of state, health ministers and other dignitaries from around the world.

Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had recently said that this meeting was the most important since the organization’s inception in 1948.

However, the consensus on global measures to deal with the coronavirus is threatened by the rapidly deteriorating relations between China and the United States.

Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened to sever ties with China over the spread of the coronavirus, while he has repeatedly accused the coronavirus of being developed in a Chinese laboratory.

Donald Trump withheld funding from the World Health Organization, accusing it of failing to maintain transparency in preventing the spread of the virus.

Despite tensions between the two economies, many countries are hoping to reach a consensus on a joint response to the global pandemic.

The resolution presented by the European Union calls for an impartial and comprehensive review of the coronavirus crisis.

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