US President Donald Trump has announced plans to stop directing federal funds The World Health Organization.
Last week, the leader threatened to pull money from the UN body that looks after the world's health, after accusing it of not acting quicker on the coronavirus pandemic.
In a White House press briefing, Trump said: "Today, I am instructing my administration to halt funding for the World Health Organization."
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Trump added that 'The WHO failed to obtain, vet and share information', and they 'failed to investigate credible reports in China'.
He continued: "They parroted and publicly endorsed the idea that there was not human to human transmission despite evidence to the contrary."
The President has been under scrutiny for weeks over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and he's repeatedly claimed US authorities have been doing a 'good job'.
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America has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world, with more than 610,000 positive test results. By comparison, the second worst country is Spain, with 174,000 cases. The US accounts for more than a quarter of the world's 1.9 million cases.
More than 29,000 people have died in the US and there have been 46,000 recoveries.
But Trump says the blame for all this rests with The World Health Organization.
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"Our countries are now experiencing - look all over the world - tremendous death and economic devastation because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed to do so," he said.
"It would have been so easy to be truthful. And so much death has been caused by their mistakes.
"We will continue to engage with the WHO to see if it can make meaningful reforms. For the time being, we will redirect global health and directly work with others.
"All of the aid we send will be discussed at very powerful levels."
The US President criticised The WHO for praising China on its efforts to control and get on top of the coronavirus.
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However, Trump issued a tweet on January 24, which said: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well."
The Guardian reports Trump was well informed about the dangers of coronavirus by his White House advisers. He was told how hundreds of thousands of people could die and the economy could tank as a result of the pandemic.
The Department of Health raised concern in October last year, according to the New York Times, in a memo that drove home 'just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed'.
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