US Looking for New Health Partnerships Amid Pause in WHO Funding - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is looking for new partners on health initiatives as it pauses its contributions to the World Health Organisation (WHO), US Agency for International Development Acting Administrator John Barsa said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

"Part of the assessment that is taking place as part of the 60-to-90 day pause is to evaluate the availability of new partners to carry out this work", Barsa said when asked about health programmes to fight disease such as Polio.

Barsa pointed out that the new partnership initiative was going to occur regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic and that next week he will sign an order to increase efforts.

Trump believes the WHO failed to report accurately on the novel coronavirus outbreak in China as it emerged in December, which may have delayed the global response to the pandemic.

US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Trump's decision to halt funding during a pandemic is "senseless" and "dangerous".

On 14 April, US President Donald Trump ordered the US Treasury to withhold funds from the WHO for 60 to 90 days while his administration reviews the organisation's handling of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

There are about 2.6 million COVID-19 cases around the world and nearly 180,000 deaths caused by the disease as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre. The United States currently has more than 826,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 45,000 deaths caused by the disease, according to the data.