Washington: President Donald Trump has announced halting America’s funding of up to USD 500 million annually to the World Health Organization while a review is being done to assess its role in “severely mismanaging and covering up” the spread of the deadly coronavirus when it first emerged in China.
“Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what has gone on there,” Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on the pandemic on Tuesday.
Trump and his senior officials have previously accused the Geneva-based UN health body of taking side with China in the coronavirus outbreak that has brought America’s economy, the world’s largest, to a standstill.
Reacting to Trump’s remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said now was “not the time” to be cutting resources for the WHO.
American taxpayers provide between USD 400 million and USD 500 million per year to the WHO, in contrast, China contributes roughly USD 40 million a year and even less, the president said. “As the organisation’s leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability, one of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations,” Trump alleged.
“The WHO failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable,” he emphasised.
The president alleged that WHO failed to investigate credible reports from sources in Wuhan that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts. There was credible information to suspect human-to-human transmission in December 2019, which should have spurred the WHO to investigate and investigate immediately, he observed. “Through middle of January it parroted and publicly endorsed the idea that there was not human-to-human transmission happening despite reports and clear evidence to the contrary,” he said.
According to Trump, the delays the WHO experienced in declaring a public health emergency cost valuable time.
The inability of the WHO to obtain virus samples to this date has deprived the scientific community of essential data.
According to Trump, had other nations like the US suspended travel from China, countless more lives would have been saved.
The WHO’s attack on travel restrictions put political correctness above life-saving measures, he alleged.
“The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion,” Trump added. (PTI)
