Donald Trump cuts funding to World Health Organisation

Donald Trump has announced the United States will cease funding to the World Health Organisation, saying it has failed to contain coronavirus.

US President Donald Trump has announced the US will cease funding the World Health Organisation.

Speaking at the Rose Garden at the White House on Tuesday, Mr Trump said he was “deeply concerned” the global health organisation was covering up information and mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today I’m instructing my administration to stop funding of the WHO while a review is conducted to assess the WHO’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” Mr Trump said.

He accused the WHO of costing human lives when it opposed his travel ban, saying they “put political correctness above human lives”.

“So much death has been caused by their mistakes,” the President said.

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President Donald Trump says the US will cut funding the WHO. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

President @realDonaldTrump is halting funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess WHO's role in mismanaging the Coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/jTrEf4WWj0

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 14, 2020

In a scathing attack on the United Nations agency, he accused the WHO of failing to investigate “credible reports of what was happening in Wuhan” if the reports didn’t match up with official Chinese government accounts.

“They've deprived the international scientific community of essential data,” Mr Trump said.

The President said the WHO’s decision to oppose his travel ban on flights from China in January could have potentially killed thousands of Americans. The travel ban was criticised by the WHO at the time.

“One of the (WHO’s) most dangerous decisions was to oppose travel restrictions between the United States and China.”

The President said his decision to proceed with the travel ban in January “saved thousands and thousands of lives”.

“Look at the rest of the world. Look at Europe,” the President said. “Other countries left their borders open to China. (Those countries) have problems, the likes of which no one can believe.

“The decision to keep borders open put political correctness above human life.

“We have deep concerns whether America's generosity has been put to good use.”

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President Trump at the Rose Garden on Tuesday. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

Trump also claimed the WHO “parroted the reports there was no human to human transmission” of coronavirus, and said there was more time lost getting “international experts in the examine the outbreak” because initial reports were so unreliable.

The President said he was “deeply concerned” by what he described as the disappearance of reports and scientific workers — particularly when the US was the most significant financial contributor to the global organisation.

The US gives has given roughly $621 million ($US400 million) to the WHO every year for the past several years, according to The Washington Post.

‘OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO BE BOOMING’

The president also spoke at length about reopening parts of the country in the near future in states where fewer cases of the virus had been recorded.

“Our country is going to be open soon and our country is going to be booming,” Mr Trump said.

The President said the decision would be made as he talked with “each individual governor of each individual state”.

The comments come after yesterday Mr Trump said he had “total authority” to decide when the US would ease social distancing restrictions, causing New York governor Andrew Cuomo to fire back that he’d push back if decisions weren’t safe.

“We don’t have a king,” Governor Cuomo said yesterday.

Mr Cuomo said if he was ordered to ease restrictions in a way that endangered public health he would be willing to fight it in court.

Mr Trump said today each state is currently working on a plan to reopen “at a time and a manner as is most appropriate,” flagging that for some states that will take longer than others.

But Mr Trump insisted many counties in the US had “zero cases” and other counties had “very few cases”.

“At the end of the tunnel we see light,” he said. “We’re starting to see it more than ever before.”

The president also announced a group of almost 50 high profile advisers he was enlisting from the US business, medical and political world to help him reshape the post-pandemic economy.

The panel will operate separately from the White House task force that’s leading the administration’s public health strategy to contain and mitigate the pandemic, though there is expected to be some overlap.

The panel, which the White House has dubbed the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, includes executives and leaders from agricultural, defence and financial service industries, as well as leaders from unions, professional sports, think tanks and more.

The list included Apple’s Tim Cook, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, all individuals with whom Trump has long-standing relationships. Mr Trump also named some individuals who have been critical of him in the past, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

Trump added that he would likely announce on Wednesday the names of elected officials, including governors and members of Congress.

The US has so far recorded more than 605,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 25,700 people have died.

--with AP