U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday officially began work to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.
Earlier, Trump announced that he would cancel 400 million USD as annual funding for the agency and withdraw themselves.
The Trump administration has now sent a formal notice to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a State Department spokesman said.
The withdrawal will take effect on July 6, 2021. Meanwhile, the US presidential election is being held in November this year. If Democrat candidate Joe Biden wins the election, he has announced that the United States will remain in the World Health Organization.
A spokesman for Guterres and the World Health Organization confirmed to received notice from the United States.
Meanwhile, a day earlier, the head of the health agency, Tedros Adhanam Gabriasis, said that national unity and international solidarity were urgently needed to tackle COVID-19.
In late May, Trump accused China of favoring the World Health Organization (WHO) over the coronavirus and announced that it would first stop funding and then withdraw the United States from the agency. The United States is a major donor to the World Health Organization.
