World

UN Chief Says It Is 'Not the Time' to Reduce WHO Resources to Fight COVID-19

The statement follows the announcement made by US President Doland Trump that the United States would halt funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO), which the president accused of mismanaging and covering-up the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Sputnik

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that it was not the time to reduce the WHO's resources to fight COVID-19.

"...it is also not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organisation or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus", the official statement by the Secretary-General said.

Guterres has once again called on the international community to "work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences".

Last week, Guterres said the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most dangerous challenges the world faced in our lifetime, adding that it was above all a humanitarian crisis with severe health and economic consequences. He said that later, when the pandemic was over, there must be a time to look back to understand how such a disease had emerged and spread its devastation so fast, but that now it was not that time.

According to the latest situation update by the WHO, the number of COVID-19 cases has reached 1,844,000 globally, with over 117,000 people dying.

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