TEDROS Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Monday disclosed that lack of global solidarity and leadership is worsening the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership,” Ghebreyesus said.

Reuters reports that the WHO chief noted this while speaking at a virtual health forum organised by the World Government Summit, an annual event organised by Dubai.

Ghebreyesus emphasized the need for national unity and global solidarity in fighting the virus which has killed over 471,000 people globally, according to Worldometer.

“The world is in desperate need of national unity and global solidarity. The politicisation of the pandemic has exacerbated it,” he said.

This is coming shortly after US President, Donald Trump announced that his administration has terminated funding to WHO, owing to the organisation’s perceived unsatisfactory response in handling  COVID-19, which originated from Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

The US  is WHO’s biggest donor, contributing about 15 percent of the organisation’s total budget.

In 2019, the US contributed about $450 million to WHO and so far this year, the US has contributed about $34 million in membership dues to WHO according to Nature.

The WHO on Friday warned that the pandemic was accelerating, as global infections rose above nine million people with 453,834​ deaths.

Meanwhile, the US has recorded more than 2.3 million of the world’s nine million confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, with over 122,000 deaths.