Huang Yanling was named as Patient Zero in early online reports shared widely throughout China in early 2020, when the magnitude of the deadly virus was first coming to light.

World Health Organization chief says agency already cutting back on hiring and travel with Trump withdrawal set to hit funding.

The U.S. has traditionally been the most generous benefactor of the WHO. A Trump executive order to cut ties with the WHO could pose a threat to global public health.

China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO,” said President Trump.

Public health experts say the United States’ departure could cripple the WHO’s operations or leave an opening for China to assume greater control over the agency.

President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, a significant move on his first day back in the White House cutting ties with the United Nations’ public health agency and drawing criticism from public health experts.

President Trump signed an executive order​ on the first day of his second term, beginning the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization ... to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China ...

Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to halt all communication with the World Health Organization.

This action follows an executive order signed by President Trump on his first day in office to withdraw the United States from the WHO.

President Trump’s decision to pull out of the international health agency could deprive the United States of crucial scientific data and lessen the country’s influence in setting a global health agenda.