President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump announced that the United States will immediately halt funding to the World Health Organization following reports that the organization is keeping the blame of COVID-19 away from the Chinese government. Reuters
(Photo: Reuters)
President Donald Trump announced that the United States will immediately halt funding to the World Health Organization following reports that the organization is keeping the blame of COVID-19 away from the Chinese government.

President Donald Trump announced that the United States would immediately halt funding to the World Health Organization following reports that the organization is keeping the blame of COVID-19 away from the Chinese government, according to a recently published article.

PETITION CALLING FOR THE RESIGNATION OF WHO's DIRECTOR-GENERAL

Latin Post recently reported that an online petition is calling for the immediate resignation of Tedros, the Director-General of the World Health Organization. At present, the petition has reached nearly one million.

Tedros is being accused of covering up the origin of the deadly virus. He was also questioned on how he handled the pandemic. Change.org, who spearheaded the petition, firmly believes that Tedros is not fit to head the organization.

Following this, White House Economic Adviser Peter Navarro described Ghebreyesus as "one of the Chinese government's proxies." He also added that Trump is seriously planning to cut the country's funding for the WHO.

Meanwhile, a group of Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to Tedros questioning the nature of his relationship with the Chinese government. In their letter, it was also referenced that the WHO posted on their Twitter account in January that the Chinese government had not found evidence of human to human transmission of the virus, and this added to the speculation that Tedros might be protecting China.

HOW MUCH IS THE FUNDING OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

The United States is the largest single donor of the World Health Organization, according to a recently published article. President Donald Trump said that the country contributed $400 to $500 million every year, while China offers only $40 million to WHO.

The State Department planned to provide the organization with an amount of $893 million in the current two-year period. Moreover, the United States is far ahead to other countries when it comes to contributing to the WHO.

Even though the Democrats suggested that cutting off funds for WHO is illegal but the fiscal year 2020 budget passed by Congress mandates the President to provide only necessary expenses, it was not also indicated as to how much is the country's funding for the WHO.

TRUMP HALTS FUNDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

During the White House COVID-19 press briefing, President Trump announced that he ordered to halt the funding to the World Health Organization. Trump said that he is concerned if whether the fund given by the United States has been put the best use possible.

WHO somehow failed to keep the international community adequately is aware of the threats brought by COVID-19. It was found out that the WHO already received credible information about the danger of the new coronavirus and its human-to-human transmission.

Despite the credible information the organization received, they instead posted on their Twitter account that the Chinese government has found no evidence of human-to-human transmission. For Trump, he said: "The WHO failed in this duty, and must be held accountable."

It was also found that the head of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Infection warned that "the city should implement the strictest possible monitoring system for a mystery new viral pneumonia that has infected dozens of people on the mainland, as it is highly possible that the illness is spreading from human to human." The University is referring to Wuhan, China, where the virus is thought to have originated.