WHO director general 'regrets' Trump's decision to halt US funding and says 'this is a time for us to be united'

President accused organisation of 'severely mismanaging' outbreak as he faces backlash for his own slow response

After Donald Trump's threats to suspend funding to the World Health Organization and accusations that the group had "covered up" coronavirus warnings, WHO says "we regret the decision of the president" amid calls for global unity to defeat the pandemic.

"Now is the time for us to be united against a common struggle, a common enemy," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. "When we're divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us."

He previously had criticised the president for politicising the virus, warning him to "stop pointing fingers" unless the US wants "more body bags".

"It's like playing with fire," he said earlier this month.

WHO is "assessing how its programmes will be affected" by the administration's decision, the director-general said. The suspension could result in millions of dollars in a funding shortfall, based on 2020-2021 budgets, as the organisation mounts a global response to the Covid-19 disease requiring international support.

On Tuesday, the president announced the US would suspend financial support for the WHO after he defected blame for the slow response to the crisis in the US following reports that he largely ignored warnings from members of his administration for several weeks.

He accused WHO of "severely mismanaging" the global response and "pushing misinformation" from China's government. The announcement came a day after he aggressively defended the US response, including his restrictions on travel from China at the end of January, and screened a video to reporters that downplayed the outbreak's impact, without answering whether the administration deployed any response in the entire month of February.

The president said that WHO's delay in "declaring a public health emergency cost valuable time, tremendous amounts of time" while he also faces accusations for failing to act quickly as the virus spread in the US.

In a February interview with Fox News, he praised WHO's response and said China has "everything under control" after sending "some of our best people" to the then-epicentre of the outbreak

He said WHO is "composed of our people. They're fantastic."

A suspension of US funds to the United Nations group for up to 90 days during a US "review" of WHO's response could jeopardise millions of dollars in funding for polio, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS treatment, as well as programmes for vaccine-preventable diseases and controlling disease outbreaks.

US contributions account for roughly 20 per cent of WHO's overall budget, according to recent assessments.