President Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will stop funding the World Health Organization and plans on conducting a review to "assess the WHO's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
Last week, Trump threatened to freeze funding to the United Nation's health agency, accusing WHO officials of responding slowly to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. He has also slammed the WHO for praising China's transparency on how it was handling its coronavirus outbreak and denounced the agency's Jan. 14 tweet stating that a preliminary investigation by Chinese officials found zero evidence of human-to-human transmission.
On Jan. 24, The Guardian notes, Trump himself had nothing but kind words for China, tweeting that Beijing "has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi!"
On Jan. 30, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency, and on March 11, declared it a pandemic. In the early days of the outbreak, Trump downplayed the virus, saying in February the danger to Americans remained "very low" and it would "disappear" like a "miracle." As of Tuesday evening, at least 22,200 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.