Trump calls WHO 'very China-centric', warns to freeze funding

Donald Trump criticised the WHO, saying “they missed the call” on the pandemic and claiming that they seem to be “very biased" toward China. The international group has praised Beijing for its transparency on the virus, even though there are reasons to believe that more people died of COVID-19 than the country’s official tally.

Washington: President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze US funding to the World Health Organization, saying the international group was "very China-centric" in its approach.

He stressed that the WHO had gone along with Beijing's efforts months ago to minimize the severity of the outbreak.

Trump also played down the release of January memos from a senior adviser that represented an early warning of a possible coronavirus pandemic, saying that 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.

The WHO praised China for its transparency on the virus, even though there have been reasons to believe that more people died of COVID-19 than the country's official tally. "They should have known and they probably did know," Trump said of WHO officials.

AP