|
 Trump,
who has reacted angrily to accusations his administration's response
to the worst epidemic in a century was haphazard and too slow, had
become increasingly hostile towards the U.N. agency before
announcing the halt on Tuesday.
The WHO, which is based in Geneva, had promoted China's
"disinformation" about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak
than otherwise would have occurred, Trump said.
WHO had failed to investigate credible reports from sources in
China's Wuhan province, where the virus was first identified in
December, that conflicted with Beijing's accounts about the spread
and "parroted and publicly endorsed" the idea that human to human
transmission was not happening, Trump said.
"The WHO failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable,"
Trump told a White House news conference on Tuesday.
A U.S. official told Reuters that Trump made the move despite
pushback within his administration, especially from top health
advisers. There was no immediate reaction from the WHO, which has
been appealing for more than $1 billion to fund operations against
the pandemic.
The United States is the biggest overall donor to the WHO,
contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its
budget.
Nearly 2 million people globally have been infected and more than
127,000 have died since the disease emerged in China late last year,
according to a Reuters tally.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was not the time to
reduce resources for the WHO.
"Now is the time for unity and for the international community to
work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering
consequences," he said in a statement.
China, which has won WHO praise for its actions to curb the virus's
spread, urged the United States on Wednesday to fulfil its
obligations to the WHO.
"This decision weakens the WHO's capability and harms international
cooperation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter: "Deeply
regret U.S. decision to suspend funding to WHO. There is no reason
justifying this move at a moment when their efforts are needed more
than ever."
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said apportioning blame did not
help. "The virus knows no borders," Maas said on Twitter.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the WHO was essential
to tackling the pandemic.
"At a time like this when we need to be sharing information and we
need to have advice we can rely on, the WHO has provided that," she
said. "We will continue to support it and continue to make our
contributions."
GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S. - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA/0100B5K8423/index.html
[to top of second column] |
'BLAME CHINA, NOT WHO'
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he sympathised with Trump's
criticisms of the WHO, especially its "unfathomable" support of re-opening
China's "wet markets", where freshly slaughtered, and live, animals are sold.
"But that said, the WHO also as an organisation does a lot of important work
including here in our region in the Pacific and we work closely with them,"
Morrison told an Australian radio station.
"We are not going to throw the baby out of with the bathwater here, but they are
also not immune from criticism."
John Sawers, the former head of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service, said
China concealed crucial information about the outbreak from the rest of the
world and that it would be better to hold China responsible rather than the WHO.
In its latest Strategy Update, the WHO said countries that ease restrictions
should wait at least two weeks to evaluate the impact before easing again.
It said that the world stands at a "pivotal juncture".
More than 2,200 people died in the United States on Tuesday, a record toll
according to a Reuters tally, even as it debated how to reopen its economy.
New York City, hardest hit by the outbreak, revised its death toll sharply up to
more than 10,000, to include victims presumed to have died of the lung disease
but never tested.
U.S. health advocacy group Protect Our Care said Trump's WHO funding withdrawal
was "a transparent attempt ... to distract from his history downplaying the
severity of the coronavirus crisis and his administration’s failure to prepare
our nation".
"To be sure, the World Health Organization is not without fault but it is beyond
irresponsible to cut its funding at the height of a global pandemic," said
Leslie Dach, who chairs the group.
Global shares dipped into the red on Wednesday as warnings of the worst global
recession since the 1930s underlined the economic damage done during the
pandemic.[MKTS/GLOB] The International Energy Agency forecast a 29 million
barrel per day dive in April oil demand to levels not seen in 25 years.
The world economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year, the International
Monetary Fund said, marking the steepest downturn since the Great Depression.
Trump, who has declared he will decide when to lift U.S. lockdowns, suggested
some Democratic state governors were "mutineers" after New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo said he would refuse any order that risked reigniting the outbreak.
(Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in a separate browser for an interactive graphic
to track the global spread.)
(Reporting from Reuters bureaux across the world; Writing by Lincoln Feast and
Nick Macfie; Editing by Robert Birsel and Philippa Fletcher)
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