António Guterres declared on Tuesday that "this is not the time to reduce funding for operations by the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian institution that fights the virus" responsible for the covid-19 pandemic.

"My belief is that the World Health Organization must be supported as it is absolutely essential to the world's efforts to win the war against the covid-19," said Guterres.

The UN Secretary-General reacted to the announcement by US President Donald Trump to suspend the country's contribution to WHO, justifying the decision with the “mismanagement” of the covid-19 pandemic.

"I order the suspension of funding for the World Health Organization while a study is being conducted to examine the role of WHO in mismanaging and hiding the spread of the new coronavirus," he said.

Last Wednesday, the UN leader had already reacted to US criticisms of WHO, recalling that the organization, with thousands of employees, is at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic and in supporting member states of the UN, "mainly the most vulnerable", with directives, training or equipment.

In criticizing the American decision, António Guterres acknowledged that "the same facts can be interpreted differently by different entities".

"Once the page of this epidemic is turned, it will be time to review it to understand how such a disease can happen and spread its devastation so quickly around the world," he said.

"The lessons learned will be essential to effectively manage similar challenges, if they arise in the future," he added.

"But this is not the time (...) nor is it the time to reduce resources for operations" of WHO in the fight against the pandemic, he stressed.

The UN Secretary-General concluded: "As I said, the moment must now be for the international community to work together, in solidarity, to stop this virus and its overwhelming consequences".

In the announcement made to journalists, Trump considered that "the world has received a lot of false information about the transmission and mortality" of the covid-19 disease.

On the other hand, the American President referred that the USA contributes “400 to 500 million dollars a year” (between 364 and 455 million euros) to WHO, as opposed to about 40 million dollars (more than 36 million euros), or “even less”, that Trump estimated was China's investment in the organization.

Donald Trump further advocated that if WHO "had done its job and sent medical experts to China" to ascertain the "situation on the spot", the pandemic could "have been contained at source with very few deaths".

The covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 124,000 deaths and infected almost two million people in 193 countries and territories.

After appearing in China in December, the outbreak spread throughout the world, with the United States currently the country with the highest number of deaths (25,239) and infected, with almost 600,000 confirmed cases.

The total number of infected people in China since the beginning of the pandemic is 82,249, of which 3,341 have died.