House Republicans Blast WHO and China in COVID Origins Report

House Republicans slammed the Chinese Communist Party and the World Health Organization for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a Monday congressional report.

China's efforts to conceal information about the coronavirus "cost thousands of Chinese citizens and hundreds of thousands of others around the world their lives," according to a new report on the origins of the coronavirus from the Foreign Affairs Committee Republican members, who also accused the WHO of providing a "full-throated defense" of China's handling of the virus outbreak.

The report, which follows the committee's interim report from early June, provides new information about how the CCP, with help from the WHO, worked to hide the Chinese origins of the coronavirus during the early stages of the pandemic. It comes amid growing concerns in Washington about China and the WHO's roles in aiding the spread of the virus. Just this month, the Trump administration, citing the WHO's close relationship with the CCP, formalizedAmerica's exit from the organization, pulling millions of dollars in federal funding for WHO programming.