COVID-19: China to donate $30m to WHO — after Trump halts US funding

The Chinese government says it will donate $30 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Geng Shuang, spokesman of China’s foreign ministry, broke the news at a press briefing on Thursday.

This development comes a week after the government of the United States suspended its funding of the global health agency.

The spokesman said the new donation would be in addition to a previous $20 million committed to “strengthen developing countries’ health systems”.

He said the contribution to the UN agency “reflects the support and trust of the Chinese government and people for the WHO”.

“China has decided to donate another $30 million in cash to the WHO, in addition to the previous donation of $20 million, to support the global fight against COVID-19 and strengthen developing countries’ health systems,” he said.

US President Donald Trump had alleged that the WHO “failed in its basic duty”.

He also accused the health agency of being “China-centric”, adding that every aspect of the WHO’s response to the pandemic was wrong.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, warned countries against politicising the pandemic saying: “No need to use COVID to score political points. No need. You have many other ways to prove yourselves”.

Globally, 2,656,622 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded out of which 729,873 patients have recovered while 185,166 persons have died as of the time of this report.

In Nigeria, there have been 873 confirmed cases of COVID-19 spread across 25 states and the federal capital territory.

Although 197 patients have been discharged, 28 deaths have been recorded from the disease.