WHO responds to Trump's threat to cut funding: 'Now is not the time'

Comment follows US president criticism of health agency on Tuesday

A senior figure in the WHO has said that its funding should not be cut during the pandemic, after Donald Trump threatened to stop paying his country's contribution to the organisation.

Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said: "We are now in an acute phase of the pandemic - now is not the time to cut back on funding."

Dr Kluge made the comment in relation to a threat issued by the US president on Tuesday.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Trump accused the WHO of mishandling the coronavirus.

He said: "We're going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO."

When pressed by reporters, he quickly backtracked by saying he was only looking into a possible suspension of funds.

Earlier the same day, the president posted a message attacking the organisation on Twitter: "The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look."

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN, rejected Mr Trump's criticism and instead praised the WHO for "showing the strength of the international health system". ​

Dr Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the WHO director-general, also defended the health agency by saying its work with Beijing was important in forming an understanding of the outbreak.

He said: "It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this."

"This is what we did with every other hard hit country like Spain and had nothing to do with China specifically," he added.

In 2019, the US gave the WHO more than $400 million, almost double the amount of any other country.

Additional reporting from Reuters