BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- As the World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some critics have wrongfully blamed it for acting too slowly to declare COVID-19 as a global health emergency.

Since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, scapegoating others and assigning blame elsewhere for its lax response has been nothing new for the U.S. administration. Noticeably enough, the WHO, the global health body, has become its new target.

On April 14, the U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration would halt its funding to the WHO, which he accused of "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."

Such a capricious and irresponsible move has been met with widespread backlash and criticism from the international community, led by Germany, France, China, Russia, Iran, South Africa and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said the WHO regretted the U.S. decision.

On April 15, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, "Blaming does not help. The virus knows no borders. We must cooperate closely against COVID-19."

"One of the best investments is that the United Nations, especially the underfunded WHO, to strengthen, for example in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines," said Maas on his Twitter account.

Echoing Maas's criticism, Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney described the U.S. decision as "indefensible" and "shocking," while the African Union called it "deeply regrettable."

Hitting back at a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Tedros said that the WHO had declared COVID-19 a global emergency, the highest level of alert, at the right time.

"Looking back, I think we declared an emergency, at the right time ... when the rest of the world had enough time to respond," he said.

On Jan. 30, the WHO chief declared the coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), sounding the highest level of alarm about the virus to the world.

"This is more than two months and 21 days ago, close to three months from now," when "there were only 82 cases and no death" outside China, he recalled, suggesting it was possible to cut transmission chains.

"It is not just one director general who just comes out and declares a global emergency," Tedros explained. "We have experts, representing all over the world, coming together and discussing."

The PHEIC declaration came after a closed-door meeting of the Emergency Committee on the same day, when health experts from around the world reached the consensus that the criteria of a global emergency were met.

"That consensus led to a declaration of global emergency from the WHO, which I announced myself," Tedros said.

On the same occasion, Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said "technically the WHO raised its highest level of alert under international law," referring to the International Health Regulations 2005, a legal agreement between all WHO member states.

As of Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has topped 2.6 million, reaching more than 185 countries and regions, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The United States, the epicenter of the pandemic, reported 840,897 cases and 46,611 deaths as of 8:39 a.m. Beijing Time on Thursday (0039 GMT), both the highest among all.

On Wednesday, the WHO chief called on the United States to reconsider its decision to freeze funding to the organization and hoped it would once again support the WHO's work and continue to save lives.

"I hope the United States believes that this is an important investment not just to help others, but for the United States to stay safe also," he said.