EU blasts Trump’s WHO funding cut, fears it worsens pandemic

GENEVA (AP) — Nations around the world reacted with alarm Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization.

Health experts warned the move could jeopardise global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

At a briefing in Washington, Trump said he was instructing his administration to halt funding for the WHO pending a review of its role “in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

The United States is WHO’s largest single donor, contributing between $400 million and $500 million annually to the Geneva-based agency in recent years.

Trump has repeatedly labelled COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” and criticised the UN health agency for being too lenient on China, where the novel virus first emerged late last year.

Outside experts have questioned China’s reported infections and deaths from the virus, calling them way too low and unreliable.

And an investigation by The Associated Press has found that six days of delays between when Chinese officials k new about the virus and when they warned the public allowed the pandemic to bloom into an enormous public health disaster.

The WHO has been particularly effusive in its praise for China, calling on other countries to emulate their approach and repeatedly praising their transparency.

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