COVID-19: Trump cuts WHO funding, as US deaths set single-day record

The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has kept to his promise of cutting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US President on Wednesday said that he will, at least temporarily, halt funding to WHO over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic claiming that it had “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable”.

He also accused the UN agency of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the virus, which he said probably led to a bigger outbreak than would otherwise have happened.

Reacting to the development, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said now is “not the time” to be cutting funding to the WHO, and the medical community has also criticised the move.

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Dr Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association called it “a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier.”

Meanwhile, the number of people dying from coronavirus in the US rose by at least 2,228 – the highest in a single day – on Tuesday to exceed 28,300.

The country also has more than 600,000 reported cases, three times more than any other count.

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