Coronavirus COVID-19: UN praises WHO as US President Donald Trump slams 'China centric' world health body

Hours after US President Donald Trump slammed the World Health Organisation (WHO) of being 'China centric' and lashed out the world health body for failing to handle the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis in a proper manner, the UN chief on Tuesday praised the "tremendous work" of the WHO.

"For the Secretary General, it is clear that WHO under the leadership of Dr Tedros (Adhanom Ghebreyesus) has done tremendous work on COVID-19 in supporting countries with millions of pieces of equipment being shipped out, on helping countries with training, on providing global guidelines. WHO is showing the strength of the international health system," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said.

The UN spokesperson was responding to whether Secretary General Guterres has a comment on the US President's tweet in whuch he slammed the WHO and hinted of action against the world health body.

"W.H.O. Really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?" Trump had tweeted on Tuesday.

Dujarric lauded WHO and said that thr world must not forget that the organisation has done superb work in fighting Ebola in Congo. "We have seen great success in the way the WHO-led efforts to fight Ebola in the DRC and surrounding countries has had under the leadership of Dr Tedros," he said.

In March, Trump had accused WHO of favouring China on coronavirus crisis, stressing that millions of people across the globe are unhappy with the global health agency and feel that "it's been very unfair?.

Senior Congressman Michael McCaul, who is also a ranking member on the House Foreign Relations Committee, had also raised question over the  integrity of WHO head Ghebreyesus, saying, "there were several red flags in his past with respect to his relationship with China".

Another Congressman Greg Steube had claimed that the WHO has been a mouthpiece for China during the coronavirus outbreak and had demanded action against both WHO and China.