‘What’s the 19?’ Trump questions COVID-19 name, again calls it ‘kung flu’ at rally

At a rally Tuesday night in Arizona, President Donald Trump expressed confusion about the name of the COVID-19 virus, at one point again calling it “kung flu,” Newsweek reports.

“I could give you 19 or 20 names for that, right,” Trump said at the event in Phoenix before listing off several phrases including “kung flu,” Business Insider reported.

“I said, ‘What’s the 19?’” Trump said. “COVID-19, some people can’t explain what the 19, give me, COVID-19, I said, ‘That’s an odd name.’”

The World Health Organization named the disease COVID-19 because it is a strain of coronavirus first identified in 2019, according to the WHO website.

Trump earlier called the disease “kung flu” at a rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sparking criticism of the phrase as racist, The Hill reported.

On Tuesday, Trump also called it the “Chinese flu,” “Wuhan,” and “the China,” Newsweek reported.

The “kung flu” reference drew cheers and applause Tuesday from the young audience at the Students for Trump rally, according to the publication.

COVID-19 is not related to the influenza virus, The Hill reported.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnnany on Monday defended the “kung flu” phrase, according to the publication.

“It’s not a discussion about Asian Americans, who the president values and prizes as citizens of this great country,” McEnany said, NPR reported. “It is an indictment of China for letting this virus get here.”

In March, however, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway called the phrase “highly offensive” after reports it had been used by a White House official, The Hill previously reported.

Trump frequently attacks China for causing the global pandemic, which first appeared in Wuhan, to deflect blame for his handling of the outbreak in the United States, The Washington Post reported.

More than 9.2 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 478,000 deaths as of Wednesday, June 24, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2.3 million confirmed cases with more than 121,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, Trump has declared a national emergency.

This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 11:25 AM with the headline "‘What’s the 19?’ Trump questions COVID-19 name, again calls it ‘kung flu’ at rally."