World Health Organization

The WHO cited a scientific study published last week suggesting that proposed COVID-19 drug hydroxychloroquine may do more harm than good in halting its study to review data.

"The World Health Organization has repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading," President Trump says.

Philanthropist Bill Gates and others warn against undercutting the World Health Organization during a crisis that's being compared to World War II and the Great Depression.

The president has been sharply critical of the World Health Organization. "As the organization's leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability," he said Tuesday.

It's the first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.

"The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries," said World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.