The British government is giving the World Health Organization 65 million pounds ($81 million) of funding to combat the coronavirus pandemic as part of a 200 million-pound stimulus program, days after US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw its financial support to the organization.

Pressure is mounting on world bodies and governments to collaborate with each other as Europe's hotspots consider relaxing shutdown efforts as the number of cases is close to 2 million worldwide.

In a statement on Sunday, the UK's Department for International Development disclosed that the funding would help prevent the virus from spreading in developing nations and cause a second increase in infections in Europe.

More than 1.6 million people are confirmed to have been globally infected with the novel coronavirus, and deaths topped 100,000 according to a count from Reuters.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December last year, infections have been reported in 210 countries and British aid minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said supporting the poorest countries now will help stop the virus from spreading to the UK.

So far, Britain has recorded nearly 10,000 coronavirus fatalities, the fifth-biggest national figure in the world today.

According to International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the government's capacity to safeguard the European public will only be effective "if we also strengthen the healthcare systems of weak countries."

Trevelyan added that their new aid support for the UK will help prevent the coronavirus from sickening millions of people in the poorest regions, "meaning we can end this global disease sooner," she said.

The British government promised funds to the WHO as the Trump administration blamed the organization for being too soft about China's measures to stop the virus at the outset. The remainder of the funding will go to charitable institutions like the International Red Cross.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the United Kingdom's generous contribution sends a strong message that this is a world threat that needs a global action. WHO, he said, is very grateful to the government and the people of Europe for their generous contribution.

The British Government said 130 million pounds will go to agencies of the United Nations, with 65 million pounds going to the WHO. Around 50 million pounds would go to the Red Cross to support the war-torn and hard-to-reach countries, and 20 million pounds would go to various charities and organizations.

The cash will benefit areas with poor health systems like war-ravaged Yemen, which registered their first case on Friday, and Bangladesh, which is hosting 850,000 Rohingya refugees in crowded camps, it said.