US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disclosed that a primary reform of the World Health Organization was required after its management of the pandemic and that the US, the global health body's major benefactor, may never continue helping the institution.
As the US official unleashed his latest invectives against the United Nations body on Wednesday, Democrats in the House of Representatives pointed their fingers at US President Donald Trump's government for attempting to "scapegoat" the WHO to distract from the way it is handling the current crisis.
In an interview with Fox News late Wednesday, Pompeo said he thinks that "we need to take a hard look at the World Health Organization and what we do" coming out of the situation.
Trump announced on April 14 that he was ending the US financial support for the WHO due to the way it responded to the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump said in a White House briefing that he has instructed his administration to stop the funding to the World Health Organization while a review is being made to evaluate its role in mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,
In a letter to the president, the WHO called for an immediate restoration of US funding, which Trump has ordered suspended last week alleging that the WHO was being "China-centric" and promoting the country's "disinformation" campaign with regards the ongoing pandemic.
The US has been WHO's biggest backer, contributing more than $400 million last year, around 15 percent of the federal government's budget.
Top officials of the White House told Reuters last week that the Trump administration could move its financial assistance to other aid organizations.
The United States has already released some $58 million for WHO this year, with American taxpayers providing around $3.5 billion in total funding since 2010, records by Open the Books revealed.
Federal agencies have been instructed by the White House Budget Office to repurpose the funds intended for the global health body to the Red Cross and The Samaritan's Purse.
Meanwhile, the WHO has denied the Trump administration's accusations and Chinese officials have insisted that they have been very transparent about information on the ongoing health crisis.
As this developed, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday announced that some of them have begun seeing a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Ghebreyesus warned governments against being complacent and urged nations to brace for a long fight against the virus. The coronavirus, he said, "will be with us for a long time."
