Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted China and the World Health Organization for their response to the coronavirus outbreak— claiming the United Nations agency acted more like the “World Death Organization” to protect Beijing.

“Their failure to communicate clearly with WHO is a crime of international proportions. And WHO fixing it for China is disgraceful. This is the World Health Organization. They were acting like the World Death Organization to protect the Chinese communist government,” Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis on his AM 970 show in an interview that aired Sunday.

China reported the first coronavirus cases in the city of Wuhan at the end of December, but WHO did not declare a pandemic until March 11 after weeks of praising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response.

The Trump administration, as well as a number of other countries battling the pandemic, have been skeptical that China has reported accurate numbers about coronavirus cases in the country.

“There is a lot to be looked into with China,” Giuliani said. “I don’t know if this was in some way deliberate or it was an accident. I don’t believe any part of their story. I think they’re hiding the number of deaths right now.”

China has reported more than 83,000 cases and has reported fewer than 3,500 deaths.

President Trump last week questioned America’s commitment to funding WHO after the agency’s Jan. 14 tweet that there was no human-to-human transmission of the virus, a conclusion based on inaccurate information supplied by the Chinese communist government.

“I think they have to get their priorities right and everyone has to be treated properly, every country, and it does not seem that way, so we are going to do a study and determine what we are doing,” the president said, referring to the US contributions.