COVID-19: Bill Gates defends China, calls blame-game a 'distraction'

According to Bill Gates, it is too soon to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak. He called all the efforts to shift focus to Beijing is a "distraction". The billionaire also said that "incorrect and unfair things" is said against the Chinese regime.

Wuhan reported the first-ever case for the novel coronavirus, and the American president Donald Trump has blamed the Chinese government for the global pandemic.

Bill Gates, on the contrary, criticized US' response on coronavirus, he called it "particularly poorly" compared to other countries.

In an interview with CNN Gates said: "China did a lot of things right at the beginning, like any country where a virus first shows up.

"They can look back and say where they missed some things."

"You know, some countries did respond very quickly and get their testing in place, and they avoided the incredible economic pain," he said.

"It’s sad that even the US that you would have expected to do this well did it particularly poorly.

"But it’s not time to talk about that."

He went on to add: "This is the time to take the great science we have, the fact we’re in this together, fixed testing, treatments, and get that vaccine, and minimize the trillions of dollars and many things you that you can’t even dimensionalize, in economic terms, that are awful about the situation we’re in.

"So, that’s a distraction.

"I think there’s a lot of incorrect and unfair things said, but it’s not even time for that discussion."

US officials have called for an investigation and check if the virus was created in the lab.