Technical Cooperation Between WHO, US Still Ongoing - WHO Official

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) Technical cooperation continued between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States despite US President Donald Trump's threats to cut ties to the UN health agency, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme Michael Ryan said Wednesday.

In May, Trump announced that the US was suspending funding to WHO. Later, Washington indicated that the US might withdraw permanently unless the organization underwent significant changes setting a 30-day deadline, which expired last week.

"I can only speak to the technical cooperation and certainly we are grateful for and continue to engage with our technical counterparts in the United States in all matters related to science and public health.

We are very grateful for their collaboration," Ryan told a virtual press briefing, when asked if the UN health agency continued communication with the US on readiness and other matters.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in turn, noted that WHO and the US were collaborating not only on preparedness, but other matters as well.

"We are in contact and we are still discussing [health matters]. And there are collaborations, not specific to one thing that you raise, but on many issues," Tedros said.

Trump claims that China's influence in the WHO allowed the coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan to morph into a global pandemic when the disease should have been contained within China.