WHO calls Trump to reconsider funding as ‘coronavirus will be with us for a long time’

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) chief has called on Wednesday the Trump administration reconsider its suspension of funding, as the coronavirus pandemic would stay for a long time.

“I hope the freezing of the funding will be reconsidered and the U.S. will once again support WHO’s work and continue to save lives,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“I hope the U.S. believes that this an important investment, not just to help others but for the U.S. to stay safe also.”

U.S. President Donald Trump last week attacked the WHO’s handling of the pandemic and announced he was halting funding to the Organisation.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States strongly believes that China failed to report the outbreak of the new coronavirus in a timely manner to the WHO.

“Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics and some that were affected early in the pandemic are starting to see a resurgence in cases,” Ghebreyesus added.

“Make no mistake we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time,” Ghebreyesus said, while noting that epidemics in Western Europe appear to be stabilising or falling.

However, there were “worrying upward trends” in early epidemics in parts of Africa and central and South America, Ghebreyesus told Geneva journalists in a virtual briefing.

Amid criticism that WHO should have acted earlier, Ghebreyesus defended the Organisation’s decision to declare an international emergency only on January 30 – its highest level of alert.

“Looking back I think we declared the emergency at the right time and when the world had enough time to respond,” he said, adding that on that date there were only 82 coronavirus cases outside of China and no deaths at the time.