Trump has a 'hunch' the COVID-19 death rate is 'way under 1 percent,' calls the WHO's 3.4 percent 'a false number'

Trump talks to Sean Hannity — (Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Fox News)

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."

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Trump also explained why he wasn't concerned about the coronavirus at first, according to CNN's Daniel Dale.

At 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."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.