The two had the call on Tuesday. The talks come as the United States suspends funding for the World Health Organization after questioning its handling of the pandemic, calling it "China-centric" and accusing the WHO chief of being "too close" to China.
Huge thanks to my friend @BorisJohnson, 🇬🇧 Prime Minister, for a very good call about the global #COVID19 response. We discussed how to strengthen our collaboration to defeat the pandemic. I thanked him for 🇬🇧’s leadership on accelerating vaccine research and development.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 27, 2020
The WHO chief also expressed his gratitude for the "continuous support" provided to the organization by the UK government and people.
I also used the opportunity to thank 🇬🇧 Prime Minister @BorisJohnson for the continuous support provided to @WHO by the British government and people. We agreed that only with global solidarity can we stop #COVID19 from spreading.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 27, 2020
Tedros noted that he was looking forward to joining the Global Vaccine Summit that the United Kingdom will host on 4 June, calling it an "outstanding opportunity" to reaffirm the commitment to the "life-saving work" of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and equitable access to a future COVID-19 vaccine.
In a separate release, the Downing Street said that the prime minister set out in the call "the UK’s support for the international effort to defeat coronavirus and for the work of the UN and WHO in helping to coordinate the global response."
According to Johnson’s office, the two also agreed on the importance of an independent probe into the origins of the current pandemic.