United States (US) President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the World Health Organization (WHO) should be ‘ashamed’ of itself as it had not been able to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump also likened the WHO to a public relations agency for China days after it had launched a probe into the role of the WHO on coronavirus and has temporarily suspended the US financial assistance to it.
“I think that the World Health Organisation should be ashamed of themselves because they are like the public relations agency for China,” he added.
Trump also claimed that the US pays WHO USD 500 million a year and China pays them USD 38 million a year.
“Whether it’s a lot more, it doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die,” he added.
Trump had recently held WHO’s funding after accusing the health organization of putting political correctness above saving lives and taking China’s claims about the outbreak at face value.
He had also attacked the organisation for being too “China-centric” in its tackling of the coronavirus pandemic.
US on Friday reported 1,070,032 cases of coronavirus and 63019 deaths due to the disease, according to the John Hopkins University tally.