President Donald Trump called COVID-19 “the Chinese Virus” in a xenophobic tweet on Monday and faced an immediate backlash.
Trump, echoing a right-wing talking point that the spread of the coronavirus is the fault of China, where it originated, wrote that the U.S. will support industries “that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus.”
“We will be stronger than ever before,” he bragged.
Trump repeated the term in another tweet on Tuesday morning:
Politicians, actors and commentators denounced Trump’s description of the virus, which has sickened more than 182,000 people worldwide and killed more than 7,100. World Health Organisation guidelines for naming infectious diseases say leaders should not use geographic locations to avoid stigmatising a location or ethnic group.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) warned Trump that Asian Americans “will likely encounter more discrimination because of your tweet below.”
“Please stop your unnecessary rhetoric,” Lieu added. ”#COVID-19 is now an American virus, an Italian virus, a Spanish virus. We all are impacted & we all need to work together.”