On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that the mortality rate for the new COVID-19 coronavirus is higher than the original 2.3 percent estimate.”Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died; by comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. “While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity; that means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease.”President Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night that the WHO is probably wrong. “Well, I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number,” he said. ” Now, this is just my hunch, but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this.” Because 11 people have died in the U.S., “all of a sudden is seems like 3 or 4 percent, which is a very high number, as opposed to a fraction of 1 percent,” Trump added. “Personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.”> Trump to Hannity on WHO saying coronavirus death rate is 3.4%: “I think the 3.4% number is really a false number. Now this is just my hunch, but based on a lot of conversations … personally, I’d say the number is way under 1%.”> > Astoundingly irresponsible. pic.twitter.com/uC9c03zX31> > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020Trump also explained why he wasn’t concerned about the coronavirus at first, according to CNN’s Daniel Dale.> Trump on the coronavirus: “It wasn’t something that was going to affect us. You know, you don’t think of it in terms — when you first heard it in China, you don’t think our country’s gonna be affected.”> > — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 5, 2020At MSNBC, Chris Hayes discussed what the Trump administration failed to learn from China’s coronavirus experience, primarily that “you have to be clear, honest, and transparent about the scope of the virus and the infection.”You can watch the entire Trump interview at Fox News.More stories from theweek.com It’s 2020 and women are exhausted Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are nervous at how much Trump thinks he’s nailed the coronavirus response These men are using cactus to create a sustainable alternative to leather
