US President Donald Trump has said the US is 'terminating' its relationship with the WHO, saying group hasn't made coronavirus reforms.
"Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs," Trump told reporters at a Rose Garden event.
Trump earlier, in April, had frozen WHO funding. Says money/funding will be directed to other groups.
Trump has been a vocal critic of the WHO's handling of the pandemic, freezing funding in April. He said the funding would diverted to other groups.
In the course of the same statement, Trump announced a number of measures aimed primarily at China in response to its conduct on a number of fronts including trade, the coronavirus and its recent crackdown on Hongkong.
The U.S. has raised concerns about WHO officials' praise of Chinese "transparency," its ignoring of warnings about the virus from Taiwan, and its repetition of Chinese claims that COVID-19 could not be spread from person-to-person. Trump has also pointed to opposition from WHO officials to his decision to place a travel ban on China in the initial days of the crisis.
Meanwhile, WHO and 37 countries have launched the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, an alliance aimed at making coronavirus vaccines, tests, treatments and other technologies available to all countries.
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