The United Nations has urged continued support for the World Health Organization (WHO) as countries around the globe battle the coronavirus pandemic, just hours after US President Donald Trump froze American funding to the agency.
The WHO and its thousands of staff are fighting the health crisis on the front lines, supporting the most vulnerable nations with “concrete life-saving services,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
While Guterres made no mention of the US, the statement came soon after President Trump announced a pause on the WHO’s funding, freezing up to $500 million in annual aid over concerns that the health body mismanaged its response to the pandemic, and even accusing it of “covering up” the extent of the coronavirus outbreak on behalf of Beijing.
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