Sad Dr. Tedros ‘regrets to inform’ public US officially suspends funding to WHO

The announcement came after US President Donald Trump told media on Monday that funding would be pulled. Trump had previously scolded the WHO for taking up China's talking points, and for their continuous missteps in handling the outbreak, especially during the early stages.

"The United States has been a longstanding and generous friend to WHO and we hope it will continue to be so. We regret the decision of the president of the United States to order a hold in funding to the World Health Organization. With support from the people and government of the US, WHO works to improve the health of many of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people," said Tedros.

Tedros called for the world to unite against a common threat, saying that the organization would have to assess the impact of the US' decision to suspend funding.

Tedros said other donors would be contacted to try and fill the void left by America's cessation of funding.

Trump's criticism of WHO

Trump has vocally slammed Tedros and the WHO on several occasions, especially at his April 7 press conference where he accused the organization of being "China-centric."

"The WHO... receives vast amounts of money from the United States... And they actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. And they were wrong, they've been wrong about a lot of things. They've had a lot of information early, they seem to be very China-centric."

Trump continued to lambaste the WHO, criticizing them and US Presidential nominee Joe Biden for asserting that Trump's move to close the borders was racially motivated.

"The World Health Organization didn't like it. In fairness to Joe Biden, he called me xenophobic. I like China, the Chinese people are phenomenal people. I was called xenophobic, i was called racist... Since then, Joe said that he was wrong and that I was right."

When asked how the WHO was "China-centric," Trump responded:

"I don't know! They seem to come down on the side of China. Don't close your borders, don't do this, they don't report what's really going on, they didn't see it and yet they were there [in Wuhan.] How do you not see it?" said Trump, referring to the China-WHO joint mission that reported that the Chinese government was reporting responsible accurate information about their coronavirus numbers.