WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt federal funding for a type of biomedical research in China and Iran, aiming to prevent development of another pandemic like COVID-19.Trump and some federal agencies have long theorized that the pandemic began at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which the Chinese deny.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday afternoon to halt federal funding for risky virus research that Republicans argue may have been the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. The order aims to stop scientists from conducting “gain-of-function” research with federal funding.

The former President's executive order will immediately halt "any present and all future" US funding for gain-of-function research in countries like China and Iran that lack proper safety oversight