The World Health Organization on Monday urged countries to continue funding the agency, saying it will initiate an independent review into its handling of the coronavirus pandemic "at the earliest appropriate moment."

Speaking at the 194-member World Health Assembly virtual conference, the WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, also called on all nations to "do everything it takes to ensure that the 2020 coronavirus pandemic is never repeated."

Mr Ghebreyesus said the world could no longer afford the "short-term amnesia" that had characterised the global response to health crises in the past.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the U.S. President, Donald Trump, threatened to permanently pull funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) if it does not commit to "major substantive improvements" within 30 days, according to a letter to the WHO chief shared by Mr Trump on Twitter on Monday.

"The only way forward for the World Health Organisation is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China," the U.S. president asserted.