US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was putting the funding on hold, pending a 60- to 90-day review into the WHO’s role in “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Coronavirus”.
Trump claimed the COVID-19 outbreak could have been contained “with very little death” if the WHO had accurately assessed the situation in China, where the virus broke out.
Its epicenter is now the United States, where the death toll has climbed above 26,000, with more than 600,000 infections.
Worldwide, the pandemic has killed more than 130,000 people and infected at least two million, according to sources.
Trump said US taxpayers provided between $400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO, while “in contrast, China contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less”.
It added to last week’s charge from Trump that the WHO was “very China centric” despite Washington’s heavy funding.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Wednesday that he regretted Trump’s decision.
“WHO is reviewing the impact on our work of any withdrawal of US funding and will work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face,” he added.
