Trump defends US hantavirus response, WHO withdrawal

US President Donald Trump on Monday defended Washington’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) that critics say resulted in a belated response to a recent hantavirus outbreak on a cruise vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.

"We weren't being treated well, and they were making the wrong diagnosis," Trump told reporters at the White House after being asked whether he regretted pulling the US out of the WHO, which he accused of being overly influenced by China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump argued that the US contributed to the WHO more than other countries, particularly Beijing.

"We were paying for, let's say, 350 million people. We were paying $500 million a year ... and China was paying $39 million a year for 1.4 billion people."

Trump also renewed criticism of the organization’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“On COVID, they were totally wrong,” he said.

Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the WHO as he began his second term in January last year.

Turning to the hantavirus, Trump underlined that the pathogen was "not easy" to spread.

"We've lived with it for years, many years, and we think we're in very good shape. We're very careful and Nebraska has done a fantastic job," he added.

Medical officials in the US state of Nebraska said Monday that 18 Americans were safely evacuated from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius following a hantavirus outbreak aboard the vessel.

Adm. Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health and head of the US Public Health Service, said the threat posed to the general public by the virus remains minimal.

"Let me be crystal clear, the risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low," Christine said.

"The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic," he added.