Trump again blames China for COVID-19; terms it ‘Kung flu’

PTI, Jun 21, 2020, 11:30 AM IST

Washington: US President Donald Trump has once again blamed China for the global spread of the deadly coronavirus which has killed over 450,000 people and infected more than 8.5 million others, terming the disease as “Kung flu”.

Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and accused Beijing of suppressing the details of the contagion.

The Trump administration officials have described it as the Wuhan virus due to its origin.

Trump, addressing his first election rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the US early this year, said that the COVID-19 is a disease and has many names than any disease in history.

“I can name – Kung flu. I can name 19 different versions of names. Many calls it a virus, which it is. Many calls it a flu. What difference. I think we have 19 or 20 versions of the name,” Trump said.

Kung fu refers to the Chinese martial arts in which people use only their bare hands and feet to fight.

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the contagion has infected over 8.5 million people and killed more than 450,000 across the world.

The US is the worst affected country with over 2.2 million cases and more than 1,19,000 deaths.

The COVID-19, which originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year, has also battered the world economy with the

International Monetary Fund saying that the global economy is bound to suffer a “severe recession”.

Scientists are racing against time to find a vaccine or medicine for its treatment.

Trump, 74, is seeking re-election in the November presidential elections against former vice president Joe Biden, 77, who is the Democratic Party’s candidate.