AKIPRESS.COM - China will provide $2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping said Monday, rallying around the World Health Organization and its efforts even as the Trump administration has slashed funding for the U.N. health agency.

The European Union’s 27-member bloc and other countries, meanwhile, called for an independent evaluation of WHO’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic “to review experience gained and lessons learned," AP reports. 

In a speech to the World Health Assembly, Xi said China had provided all relevant outbreak data to WHO and other countries, including the virus’ genetic sequence, “in a most timely fashion.”