Washington, April 8 (RHC)-- U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to hold back funding to the World Health Organization, potentially leaving the agency without support from its largest donor as many of its 194 members are being ravaged by the coronavirus.

During his daily briefing on the coronavirus situation on Tuesday, Trump unleashed yet another rant at the WHO, arguing that the organization he dubbed “China-centric” was too slow and ineffective in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The World Health Organization receives vast amounts of money from the United States, we pay the biggest portion of their money,” Trump said, arguing that the organization had “called every shot wrong” on the COVID-19 crisis.  Trump said: "We're going to put a hold on money spent with the WHO, put a very powerful hold on it."

When asked to elaborate on his idea of suspending funding to the organization, which is arguably the key international body fighting coronavirus, Trump appeared to back down just a few minutes later, saying that his administration would be merely “looking” at the possibility.  "I’m not saying I’m going to do it, I’m going to look at it... We will look at ending funding."

The health agency has recently become a target of the U.S. president's anger.  Tweeting ahead of the press conference, Trump took aim at the WHO for its opposition to sweeping travel bans early on in the pandemic.  He has repeatedly accused the agency of being biased in favor of Beijing, while offering no evidence to support this claim.

The threat to cut funding to the WHO comes as the world faces imminent danger.  Globally, the number of people diagnosed with the virus now exceeds 1.4 million.  More than 81,500 people have died while more than 300,000 have recovered according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.