Donald Trump warns WHO over coronavirus handling

US President Donald Trump warns the World Health Organization (WHO) to pull US funding permanently over coronavirus. He has warned the organization by sending a letter to WHO’s head.

In the letter, Trump gave a 30-day deadline for the body to promise to bring “substantive improvements”. Otherwise, the WHO will lose US membership and funding.

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was criticized for its response to coronavirus since December.

Donald Trump posted the letter on Twitter. He has blamed the WHO for having an “alarming lack of independence” from China. He also blamed the agency for having “consistently ignored” the credible reports of the virus at the beginning of December or even earlier.

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This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory! pic.twitter.com/pF2kzPUpDv

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020

According to the international news agency, Donald Trump, in the letter,

• Cites report the WHO delayed an emergency declaration under pressure from President Xi Jinping
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• Criticizes the agency’s praise of China’s “transparency” amid reports of censorship and lack of international cooperation
• Accuses the WHO of failing to comment on virus-related racial discrimination allegedly happening within China
• Says Dr. Tedros could have saved “many lives” if he had acted more like Dr. Harlem Brundtland, the WHO chief during the Sars outbreak

He wrote in the letter, “The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China,”