Bbc radio, Broadcasting company

Paris, April 17 French President Emmanuel Macron has questioned China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that things "happened that we don't know about", a media report said on Friday.Asked if China's authoritarian response to bring the outbreak under control had exposed the weakness of Western democracies, the BBC quoted Macron as saying to The Financial Times newspaper that there was no comparison between open societies and those where truth was suppressed."Given these differences, the choices made and what China is today, which I respect, let's not be so naive as to say it's been much better at handling this," he said."We don't know. There are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about."He said that abandoning freedoms to fight the pandemic would threaten Western democracies."We can't accept that. You can't abandon your fundamental DNA on the grounds that there is a health crisis."So far, France has reported 147,091 coronavirus cases and 17,941 deaths.Macron's comments come after countries like the US and the UK have questioned China's transparency over the pandemic, that originated in the city of Wuhan last December, said the BBC report.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told a news conference on Thursday that "hard questions" would have be asked about how the outbreak started "and how it couldn't have been stopped earlier".He said there would have to be a "deep dive" into how the virus was able to spread from China and said it could not be "business as usual" after the crisis.US President Donald Trump has also taken a hard line against China.On Wednesday, asked why the US accounted for such a high proportion of the global death toll, he accused other countries of lying about their mortality rates"Does anybody really believe the numbers of some of these countries?" he asked, naming China.He said the US was looking into unverified reports that the coronavirus may have emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan rather than in a market in the city.( With inputs from IANS )

Bbc RadioFOLLOW

Bbc radio, Latest News

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has self-isolated himself after at least 20 people at the presidential palace tested positive for coronavirus, reports said on Sunday. ...

New data has revealed that the number of coronavirus deaths in UK care homes may be far higher than those recorded so far, it was reported on Sunday. ...

The world's Orthodox Christians on Sunday celebrated Easter, the most important festival in their calendar, amid a series of restrictions and lockdowns imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Smoke from a wildfire that has been raging for several days in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, has covered the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, making its air pollution among the worst in the world, it was reported. ...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has told the government that wearing face masks while travelling the UK capital should be compulsory, the media reported. ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday that Africa could become the next epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic as there was a sharp rise in the numver of COVID-19 cases in the past week. ...

The UK's Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton have said that the coronavirus lockdown was "stressful" for many people and it was important to look after mental health. ...

French President Emmanuel Macron has questioned China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that things "happened that we don't know about", a media report said on Friday. ...