Coronavirus: Donald Trump orders halt to US funding for World Health Organisation
Donald Trump, the largest funder of WHO, stops $US500m for the UN agency, accusing it of failing to warn the world about COVID-19.
Donald Trump has halted US funding of the World Health Organisation, saying the UN agency failed in its responsibility to warn the world about the deadly nature of the coronavirus.
Mr Trump said WHO failed in its “basic duty’’ to “obtain information in a timely and transparent fashion’’ about the nature and contagious risk posed by the virus as it emerged in Wuhan in China.
The president accused WHO of “severely mismanaging and covering up’’ the coronavirus and of taking China at its word about claims that the virus could not be transmitted to humans.
“The WHO willingly took China’s assurances at face value...even praising China for its so-called transparency,’’ Mr Trump said “The WHO said it was not communicable, saying there was no need for travel bans.’’
He said the US, which is easily the largest funder of WHO would suspend its $US400 million to $US500 million annual contribution pending a review into the actions of the agency.
“The US has a duty to insist on full accountability...we will continue to engage with WHO to see if it can make meaningful reforms,’’ he said.
This week, the WHO backed the reopening of China’s notorious wet markets, prompting calls from Scott Morrison for greater “transparency” from the UN body on the causes of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Despite strong evidence the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan wet market, the WHO said it did not support the closure of the markets “because they are a source of livelihood and food security to many people”.
But the Prime Minister said he was not yet satisfied that wet markets could be made safe, and warned the WHO must play a central role in ensuring the world did not face a repeat of COVID-19.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Trump accused America’s state Governors of engaging in mutiny for challenging his authority to reopen the US economy.
In a sharp escalation of his battle with the states over who controls the response to the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Trump invoked the infamous tale of the mutiny on the Bounty.
“Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favourite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!” The president tweeted.
The captain of the real-life HMS Bounty was William Bligh was set adrift by mutineers in 1789 and was later appointed Governor of NSW before deposed during the Rum Rebellion.
Mr Trump’s comments came as state Governors hit back against his claim that ‘the president of the United States calls the shots’ and that they ‘can’t do anything without’ his approval when it comes to reopening the US economy.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state has had more than 10,000 coronavirus deaths, accused Mr Trump of behaving like a ‘king’ and said his claims were in breach of the Constitution.
“You know, the president stood up and said, ‘Forget the Constitution of the United States, forget the concept of federalism,’ ” Mr Cuomo said.
“If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
He said if Mr Trump tried to force him to reopen New York or other states against health advice it would lead to“a constitutional crisis like you haven’t seen in decades, where states tell the federal government, ‘We’re not going to follow your order.’”
Mr Trump hit back at Mr Cuomo, saying “Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”
Mr Trump and his economic advisers are pushing for an early reopening of the US economy, perhaps as early as May 1.
However many state Governors are wary of such an early date and say that they - not the president — will decide when to relax stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines in their state.
The president’s health advisers on his coronavirus Taskforce are also wary of an early resumption of economic activity, warning that this would risk a second wave of the virus later this year.
The top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday (AEDT) he didn’t believe a May 1 opening was realistic given the continued spread of the virus.
He said the US did not yet have the testing and tracing procedures need to track the virus and send people back to work with confidence.
“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” Dr Fauci said.
“I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going count,” he said.
He described the May 1 target as ‘a bit overly optimistic’ for many parts of the country and warned that any easing of social distancing guidelines would need to occur on a ‘rolling basis’ depending on the infection rates in a particular area.
His comments came as the nation’s hotspot of New York recorded another 778 deaths, taking the state’s total death toll to 10,834, compared to the national toll of 25,839.
“It’s basically flat at a devastating level of suffering and grief,” Mr Cuomo said of the state’s death toll which is now hovering between 700 and 800 a day.
But Mr Cuomo said he was encouraged by the fact that the rate of hospitalisations and intubations was still falling.
“We changed the curve,” he said. “We are changing the curve every day.”
It is estimated that more than 9000 US health workers have also been infected with the virus while trying to save the lives of infected patients.
(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)
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