World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday warned that the "worst" of the coronavirus pandemic is "yet ahead of us."

In a news briefing, Ghebreyesus said, "Trust us. The worst is yet ahead of us."

"Let's prevent this tragedy. It's a virus that many people still don't understand." He added that many developed countries are drawing the wrong conclusions because "they didn't know it" and found themselves in "trouble."

"We warned even developed countries, saying, 'This virus will even surprise developed countries.' It did. We said that. It will surprise even wealthy nations. We said that. It's on record. Let's stop additional sacrifices. Let's stop tragedy."

"Even one life is precious," Ghebreyesus added. "Let's say: Enough is enough."

Comparing coronavirus to the Spanish flu, he said that today "we have technology, we can prevent that disaster, we can prevent that kind of crisis."

He also emphasized that if there is "national unity and if there is global solidarity, if we take this as a common enemy for humanity and give our best...we can win the fight."

"Don’t use this virus as an opportunity to fight against each other or score political points. It’s dangerous. It’s like playing with fire. Please work together.

"This virus is dangerous. This virus is public enemy number one. This virus is new and which has behavior of serious contagion, like flu. It’s very contagious like flu. And at the same time, it’s very killer like SARS and MERS. It has a very dangerous combination," he said.