U.S. President Donald Trump says he has directed a halt to the country’s payments to the World Health Organization pending a review of its warnings about the coronavirus and China.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he has directed a halt to U.S. payments to the World Health Organization (WHO) pending a review of its warnings about the coronavirus and China.
Trump said at a White House news conference on Tuesday the outbreak could have been contained at its source and spared lives had the UN health agency done a better job investigating reports coming out of China.
He said the world depends on the WHO to work with countries to make sure accurate information about health threats are shared in a timely manner.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable,” Trump said at the briefing. He said the U.S. would be reviewing the WHO’s actions to stop the virus before making any decision on resuming aid.
There was no immediate comment from the Geneva-based organization, but when asked about possible U.S. funding cuts during a regular UN briefing earlier Tuesday, W