Trump says WHO “called it wrong” on coronavirus

The US President also threatened to cut US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), accusing it of holding a bias toward China.

Trump also explicitly said that the WHO “called it wrong” with regards to Covid-19, now responsible for over 82,000 deaths worldwide.

Speaking on Tuesday, Trump initially threatened to cut funding to the organisation, saying: “They called it wrong, they called it wrong. They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier.

“They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into that very carefully and we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO.

“We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it and we’re going to see. It’s a great thing if it works but when they call every shot wrong, it’s not good.”

Trump was then asked whether or not he thought it was a good idea to cut funding during a pandemic, the likes of which we have never seen before, and he seemingly had a change of heart.

He said: “No, maybe not. I’m not saying I’m going to do it but we’re going to look at it.”

Trump tweeted on Tuesday condemning the WHO, saying: “The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”

The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2020

The US also recorded the most coronavirus deaths of any country in a single day on Tuesday, with more than 1,800 fatalities reported.