Trump Halts Payments To WHO Over Coronavirus 'Mistakes'

President Donald Trump says he has directed a halt to US payments to the World Health Organisation pending a review of its warnings about the coronavirus and China.

Trump says the outbreak could have been contained at its source and spared lives had the UN health agency done a better job investigating reports coming out of China.

"Today I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organisation while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump said.

"The reality is that the World Health Organisation failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion."

The president said the world depends on the World Health Organisation to work with countries to make sure accurate information about health threats are shared in a timely manner.

Trump claims the organisation failed to carry out its "basic duty" and must be held accountable.

"Our countries are now experiencing - look all over the world - tremendous death and economic devastation because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed to do so," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"It would have been so easy to be truthful. And so much death has been caused by their mistakes."

The World Health Organisation declared a global public health emergency on January 30 and on March 11 formally "characterised" COVID-19 as a pandemic.

But Trump says the US will continue to engage with the organisation in pursuit of what he calls meaningful reforms.

"As the organisation's leading sponsor the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability," he said.

"Since its establishment in 1948, the American people have generously supported the World Health Organisation to provide better health outcomes to the world and most importantly to help prevent global health crises."

The US has more than 610,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and has recorded more than 25,000 deaths.