Embattled WHO says worst of COVID-19 pandemic lies ahead — but offers no explanation as to why: ‘Trust us’

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to come.

When pressed, however, Tedros did not give a reason as to why he made such a dire prediction.

What are the details?

According to a Monday Associated Press News story, Tedros announced that "the worst is yet ahead of us" in fighting against coronavirus.

At the time of this writing, Johns Hopkins University researchers estimate that at least 2,498,355 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed around the world, and 171,652 people have died related to the virus.

"Trust us," he insisted. "The worst is yet ahead of us. Let's prevent this tragedy. It's a virus that many people still don't understand."

Tedros' ominous warning comes amid some countries and states within the United States attempting to relax stay-at-home and lockdown restrictions.

What else?

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw funding for the agency — approximately $300 million to $400 million per year — because it purportedly botched the initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, Trump redirected funds to other organizations such as Samaritan's Purse and the Red Cross.

Trump said that he decided to cut funding due to the WHO's purported role in parroting China's lies and misinformation about COVID-19. In the early stages of the pandemic, the organization repeated the Chinese government's claims that the disease was not spread as a result of human-to-human transmission.

"Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump said during the announcement.

Following the massive worldwide outbreak, the WHO also refused to call out the Chinese government when it refused to admit that it had misled the global community about the virus and its method of transmission.

According to the outlet, Tedros said, "This virus is dangerous. It exploits cracks between us when we have differences."

He also said that the COVID-19 outbreak is not unlike the 1918 Spanish Flu. The 1918 pandemic killed at least 50 million people according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have been warning from day one," Tedros said. "This is a devil that everybody should fight."

This story has been updated with editing changes.