The Chinese government put the United States "behind the curve" on containing the coronavirus outbreak, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
“Remember, this is the Wuhan coronavirus that’s caused this, and the information that we got at the front end of this thing wasn’t perfect and has led us now to a place where much of the challenge we face today has put us behind the curve,” Pompeo said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
He insisted on using the name Wuhan in connection with the disease to reflect its beginnings in the Chinese province and said that transparency is key to getting control of the disease, officially named by scientists as COVID-19.
But the Chinese have not been open, Pompeo said, adding that remaining closed is "not the way infectious disease doctors tell me it should work. It's not the way America works with transparency and openness and the sharing of the information that needs to take place."
Pompeo also rejected claims pushed by the Chinese state-run media that the outbreak could have started outside of China, as "no less authority than the Chinese Communist Party said it came from Wuhan. Don’t take Mike Pompeo’s word for it. We have pretty high confidence that we know where this began.”
There is also high confidence that information about the disease could have been made available more quickly and shared among health professionals worldwide, and it's "most unfortunate" that didn't happen, said Pompeo.
Pompeo also discussed the growing outbreak on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," noting that the administration is taking its dangers "incredibly seriously."
"We continue to work around the world," said Pompeo. "We provided assistance to the Chinese government, not just what the CDC and healthcare officials are doing, but trying to make sure they have the medical supplies they need to stop the spread of this globally. That's my mission at the State Department."
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