The World Health Organization (WHO)'s head said on Tuesday he would keep leading the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, even after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding and quit the UN body.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the agency's role after the United States again withheld full support for a resolution on the pandemic.

"We want accountability more than anyone," Tedros told a virtual meeting of the WHO's 194 member states. "We will continue providing strategic leadership to coordinate the global response."

Washington allowed the resolution calling for a review into the global response to the pandemic to pass by consensus, but said it objected to language about reproductive health rights and permission for poor countries to waive patent rules.

The U.S. mission in Geneva said in a statement that paragraphs on the right of poor countries to waive patents to obtain medicine during a health emergency would "send the wrong message to innovators" trying to produce new drugs and vaccines.

At the time when Trump proposed quitting the WHO, the global health agency has received backing and a two-year pledge of 2 billion U.S. dollars in funds from China, which also promised if ever there is a vaccine it will share it with other countries, ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

Tuesday's resolution also calls for a review to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population.

(With input from agencies)