
It is "not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus," United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.
"It is my belief that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world's efforts to win the war against COVID-19," he said, after US President Donald Trump announced earlier that his country would cut off funding to the UN health body for mishandling the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump told a press conference he was instructing his administration to halt funding while "a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
According to Trump, the WHO prevented transparency over the outbreak and the United States -- the UN body's biggest funder which provided $400 million last year -- will now "discuss what we do with all that money that goes to the WHO."
"With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America's generosity has been put to the best use possible."
The United States recorded 2,228 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.