U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted a letter to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday. 

After outlining "serious concerns" with the WHO, Trump said "the only way forward" is if it "can actually demonstrate independence from China." He added that unless WHO commits to "substantive improvements over the next 30 days," he will make the temporary suspension of U.S. funding permanent.

But on Tuesday, the world-renowned medical journal and its editor-in-chief refuted Trump's allegations, saying the "statement is factually incorrect," as the Lancet published no reports in December. These allegations against the WHO are "damaging to efforts to strengthen international cooperation to control this pandemic," the Lancet stated.