WHO ‘got it wrong’

Trump blasts group, threatens to cut US funding over virus call

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has threatened to freeze US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Trump also played down the release of January memos from a senior adviser that represented an early warning of a possible coronavirus pandemic, saying he had not seen them at the time. But he turned his anger on the WHO, first declaring that he would cut off US funding for the organisation, then backtracking and saying he would “strongly consider” such a move.

Mr Trump said the international group had “called it wrong” on the virus and that the organisation was “very China-centric” in its approach, suggesting that the WHO had gone along with Beijing’s efforts months ago to minimise the severity of the outbreak.

The WHO has praised China for its transparency on the virus, even though there has been reason to believe that more people died of COVID-19 than the country’s official tally.

“They should have known and they probably did know,” Mr Trump said of WHO officials.

Throughout his presidency, Mr Trump has voiced scepticism toward many international organisations and has repeatedly heaped scorn on the WHO.

In its most recent budget proposal, in February, the Trump administration called for slashing the US contribution to the WHO from an estimated $122.6 million to $57.9 million. The organisation’s current guidance does not advocate closing borders or restricting travel, though many nations, including the US, have enacted those steps.

The WHO declared COVID-19 a public health emergency on January 30, nearly a month before Mr Trump tweeted that “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” and 43 days before he declared a national emergency in the US.