US formally withdraws from WHO

Washington : President Donald Trump has started official process to withdraw the United States from WHO, making good on threats over the UN body's response to the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

This can be taken as a big financial hit on WHO as the United States was the biggest contributor of funds for research and tests.

After threatening to suspend the $400 million in annual US contributions and then announcing a withdrawal, Trump has formally informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that he has started the US pullout, a State Department spokesperson said.

The withdrawal process will be completed in the course of one year, to be precise by July 6, 2021. Joe Biden, who is contesting against Donald Trump in the upcoming elections may stop it if he comes to power.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Guterres, confirmed that the United States gave its notice.

Under conditions set when the United States entered the World Health Organization in 1948, Washington has to give a one-year notice to pull out -- and meet its remaining assessed financial obligations, Dujarric said.

"To call Trump's response to COVID chaotic and incoherent doesn't do it justice," said Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who said that Congress was notified.

"This won't protect American lives or interests -- it leaves Americans sick & America alone," he said.