TAIWAN has released an email sent to the World Health Organisation (WHO) it claims shows an unheeded warning about the threat of the coronavirus.

WHO has come under fire as the government argued they sounded the alarm about cases of an unknown virus transmitting between people in Wuhan as early as December 31.

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3 Taiwanese health minister Chen Shih-chung holds up an email the government sent to WHO on December 31 at a briefing on April 11 Credit: CECC

Taiwan accused the organisation of a “dereliction of duty” as it claimed WHO ignored the email.

The island is not a member state of the United Nations agency due to objections from China, who it continues to feud with after splitting from the mainland in 1949.

China continues to claim Taiwan - located 80 miles off its coast - as its own.

WHO has increasingly come under fire for its handling of the pandemic - which has infected 2million people - as it has been accused of being “China-centric”.

Taiwan released an email which was sent to WHO on December 31 asking for information about a possible outbreak in Wuhan - saying they had seen reports of seven people being infected with a SARS-like condition.

WHO claims it never received any emails from Taiwan that mention the threat of the virus passing between people.

The email points out reports of patients being “isolated”.

Taiwanese health minister Chen Shih-chung argued this obviously refers to the risk of transmission at a press conference on Saturday in Taipei.

He said: “If being treated in isolation is not a warning, then what is?.”

Mr Chen added if China did not notify WHO it was evidence of a cover-up by Beijing, or if China did notify WHO then it was a “dereliction of duty” of the organisation not to pass on information.

3 Taiwanese army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant over a road during a drill on April 6 Credit: AP:Associated Press

3 Taiwan has only recorded six deaths from coronavirus. Commuters pictured on April 8 in Taipei. Credit: ANN WANG

The health minister also accused WHO of quibbling over wording as pressure ratchets up on the organisation.

China first confirmed virus transmission between people on January 20, and on January 12 WHO had said there was no clear evidence of such transmission.

Distrust of the Chinese regime however meant Taiwan was already screening arrivals from Wuhan as early as December 31.

And the government activated its emergency protocols on January 2.

Taiwan has only recorded 393 cases and six deaths thanks to its early interventions - recording no new cases today for the first time in a month.

World governments - such as Britain and the United States - followed WHO’s advice and pandemic was allowed to spread.

Chinese authorities have been openly accused of attempting to cover-up the early days of the outbreak.

TAIWAN'S DECEMBER EMAIL TO WHO Taiwan released the following email which it argues shows a warning about person-to-person transmission of coronavirus on December 31 "News resources today indicate that at least seven atypical pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan, China. "Their health authorities replied to the media that the cases were believed not to be SARS, however the samples are still under examination, and cases have been isolated for treatment. "I would greatly appreciate if you have relevant information to share with us. "Thank you very much in advance for your attention to this matter."

US President Donald Trump has led the criticism as he considered pulling funding from the organisation.

The president said yesterday that he will make a decision by the end of the week after previously accusing WHO of being “China-centric” and “minimizing the threat”.

Trump’s economic advisor Peter Navarro also accused WHO of being led by Beijing’s “proxies”

It comes as the US remains the worst impacted nation in the world with almost 600,000 cases and nearly 24,000 deaths.

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WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has accused the US of "politicising" its handling of the virus.

He said: “We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave.”

In a statement on Taiwan’s claims, WHO said: “We have asked how they communicated this to us, because we are only aware of that one email that makes no mention of human-to-human transmission, but they haven’t replied.”

Meanwhile, a UK-based think tank argued the G7 nations should sue China for $3.2trillion in damages after it was accused to trying to downplay the outbreak.

Coronavirus cases worldwide have surged past 2million