U.S. formally withdraws from WHO as coronavirus cases continue to spike: reports

The United States has formally submitted its withdrawal from the World Health Organization amid a continuing spike in domestic cases of the coronavirus, American reports state.

Both CBS News and The Hill cite American officials in their reports that the U.S. has submitted its withdrawal paperwork to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres.

The CBS News report says the withdrawal will take effect on July 6, 2021, while the report from The Hill says it will take effect on Monday.

U.S. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez also tweeted that Congress has received that notification.

The withdrawal follows through on a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year and comes as the country continues to see tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases each day.

The death toll in that country exceeds 130,800 individuals.

Another 2.9 million have been infected, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

READ MORE: China frustrated WHO by delaying coronavirus info, despite public praise: sources

Trump had threatened to make a temporary freeze on U.S. funding for the WHO permanent in May unless “substantive improvements” are made to the international organization.

Trump had also said at the time that unless those improvements were made, he would reconsider American membership in the WHO all together.

The WHO has come under heavy criticism over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Much of that criticism centres on the organization’s reliance on Chinese coronavirus data and its early praise of that regime’s response to the emerging crisis even as WHO officials privately expressed frustration with the lack of information sharing about the disease spread.

As the Associated Press reported in June, WHO officials praised China’s handling in a bid to try to get it to share more information amid fears that what was being provided wasn’t enough to let health officials do proper planning or response.

More to come.