Pompeo: Countries must be 'transparent' about coronavirus information

Updated: December 23, 2024 - 10:32pm

<p>Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on all nations Tuesday to share "accurate, transparent information" to help the world fight the pandemic.</p><p>"It's not because it's bad politics, it is because it puts lives at risk. If we don't have confidence in the information that's coming from every country," he said. "We're making sure that we have good sound basis upon which to make decisions about how to fight this infectious disease that's that's the risk that comes when countries choose to engage in campaigns of disinformation across the world."</p><p>Pompeo has taken an aggressive approach in calling out disinformation, particularly from Beijing and Tehran. Last week, he said that the U.S. had seen these activities "come from places like China and Russia and Iran, where there are coordinated efforts to disparage what America is doing in our activity to do all the things that President Trump has set in motion here."</p><p>China is claiming that no new cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday in Wuhan city and Hubei province, which was the center of the pandemic's outbreak.</p>