US President Donald Trump halts WHO's funding, alleges mismanagement of COVID-19 crisis

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday, April 15 halted US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) after accusing the UN body of mismanaging the coronavirus crisis. He announced the decision during his daily White House briefing. 

Earlier on April 7, Trump had threatened to cut US funding to WHO after claiming that the organisation was "China-centric". In response, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had urged the United States to join hands with China in combating the disease rather than indulging in a blame game saying, "If you don't want more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it." 

Meanwhile, on April 11, Trump had teased an announcement about the WHO saying "As you know, we give them (WHO) approximately $500 million a year and we're going to be talking about that subject next week. We'll have a lot to say about it." 

Read: COVID-19: Donald Trump claims 'total authority' over decision to lift lockdown

Coronavirus crisis in the US

Leading the number of worldwide cases of novel coronavirus COVID-19 infection, the United States has become the new epicentre of the pandemic surpassing China, Italy, and Iran. With over 600,000 cases to date, the Trump administration has been facing momentous criticism for failing to contain the outbreak. Trump has also not announced a nationwide shutdown to deal with coronavirus.

Read: WHO chief 'hopes' US would continue funding amid COVID-19 pandemic

Meanwhile, New York --  one of the worst-hit spots in the US, has seen a total of 10,834 deaths and over 202,208 COVID-19 positive cases. However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday during his daily briefing asserted that the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic is over. According to him, the numbers are saying that they can now control the spread of the virus. 

First detected in China's Wuhan, at present, there are around 1,986,554 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection across the globe and the disease has led to the death of around 125,421 people. In a ray of hope, around 466,635 people are also reported to have recovered.

Read: COVID-19 death toll in US surpasses 24,000 mark, highest in the world

Read: Donald Trump gets into heated argument with a reporter during COVID-19 briefing