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Updated April 19th, 2020 at 09:36 IST

US funding for WHO blocked, Trump wonders what to do with $500M saved; eyes 'research'

After halting US funding to WHO, Donald Trump in his White House briefing on Saturday said that now country could find ways to efficiently use the USD 500 fund

Reported by: Navashree Nandini
WHO
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After halting the US funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO), Donald Trump in his White House briefing on Saturday said that now the country could find ways to efficiently use the USD 500 million it allocated to the UN body. 

“The World Health Organization, we’re just finding more and more problems, there are other ways we can spend 500 million dollars but we can find other ways to spend it where people are going to be helped we think in a much greater way, we are doing some research on certain people who take a lot of credit for what they do,” Trump said.

“We can spend the $500 million using all of it in a much more efficient manner if we chose to do that, and it will be to the good of many more people,” Trump added, criticizing the WHO for being against the United States closing off its borders to China when the coronavirus was just emerging.

READ | US president Trump announces relief package for farmers hit due to Covid lockdown

The novel Coronavirus, which has brought the entire world to a halt, first originated in China in December last year, has till now killed over 160,755 people worldwide. The United States till Sunday reported a total number of 738,792 cases 39,014 deaths. New York City remains the most affected by the coronavirus.

Earlier on April 19, India amended the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy to ensure no hostile takeover of firms facing stress due to ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. According to the amendment, neighbouring countries - including China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan will require government approval for investing into Indian companies. 

READ | US presidential elections: Elizabeth Warren endorses Joe Biden

Trump warns China 

In his briefing, US president Trump also has warned China of consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. He said that the death rate of China is higher than that of US, 'but no one is reporting it.' 

"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he told reporters at a White House news conference on Saturday. "You're talking about, you know, potentially lives like nobody's seen since 1917. The relationship was good when we were signing that, but then, all of a sudden, you hear about this. So, it's a big difference. You know, the question was asked would you be angry at China. Well, the answer very well might be a very resounding, yes, but it depends," Trump said.

READ | 'China will find out': Donald Trump implies Coronavirus consequences; won't be precise

Trump halts WHO funding

Trump on Wednesday halted US funding to the UN body after alleging mismanaging the coronavirus crisis. Trump has blamed WHO's "very much sided" approach to China on coronavirus crisis, asserting that many people are unhappy with the global health agency and feel that "it's been very unfair". Trump said: "Today I am instructing my administration to halt the funding of WHO while the review is conducted is assessing WHO's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Coronavirus.

In an obvious reference to China, he said: "Everybody knows what's going on there." American taxpayer provides about 400 million to 500 million dollars per year to WHO in contrast China contributes only 40 million dollars or less. As the highest contributor, it is our duty to insist on full accountability."

READ | China not excluded, as Donald Trump halts US funding for WHO alleging Covid mismanagement

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Published April 19th, 2020 at 09:36 IST

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