China's ambassador to the United States took a thinly-veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump on Tuesday by criticising politicians bent on making “groundless accusations” that distract from scientific information on the deadly coronavirus, Reuters reports.

Speaking at a webcast Bloomberg event, Cui Tiankai also defended the handling of the disease by China, which has drawn fire from Trump and others for allegedly failing to alert the world to risks of the virus in a timely and transparent fashion.

“What worries me is indeed lack of transparency, not in terms of science, not in terms of medical treatment, but in terms of some of the political developments, especially here in the United States,” Cui said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.