President Donald Trump continued Wednesday to point fingers at China for the coronavirus outbreak, referring to the COVID-19 virus as the "Chinese virus" in several tweets.
Trump has used the phrase multiple times in recent days as his administration confronts the virus that has now spread to every U.S. state after it first cropped up in China late last year.
"I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the 'borders' from China - against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!" Trump tweeted.
A short time earlier, Trump said he will reveal "very important news from the FDA concerning the Chinese Virus" during a Wednesday press conference.
And before that, Trump called COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" in a tweet that referenced federal aid to workers who are affected by virus-related closures.
China has come under fire for downplaying the outbreak of COVID-19 last year in the city of Wuhan. The virus then spread worldwide over the next several months, but China disagrees with Trump's use of the term "Chinese virus."
Around the same time Trump's Wednesday morning tweets started to appear, China's largest newspaper tweeted, "Though the #COVID19 pandemic was first reported in #Wuhan, there is no evidence that it originated from Wuhan. It is irresponsible to jump to a conclusion: China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan on Wed."
The Trump administration put restrictions in place earlier this month on how many U.S. visas state-controlled Chinese media companies would be allowed, which effectively expelled roughly 60 Chinese journalists. China retaliated by saying it would kick out at least 13 American journalists from within its borders.
And last week, it was reported that China could deny lifesaving drugs to the U.S. in the COVID-19 fight. Those actions could plunge the U.S. into "the mighty sea of coronavirus," according to the report in Chinese state media.
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