As countries around the world strive to contain and defeat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump has apparently managed to stir quite a storm online thanks to his definition of this pathogen.
In his 16 March tweet, Trump promised that the US will be "powerfully" supporting the industries most affected by the COVID-19 which he named "the Chinese Virus".
On 17 March, Trump seemed to double down on his claims, once again mentioning the “Chinese Virus” in a tweet regarding the current situation in New York.
The US president's choice of words, perhaps predictably, has quickly attracted the attention of quite a few netizens who didn't seem to think highly of this reference to China.
Trump's statements also earned him the criticism of the Global Times newspaper which claimed that the US president was attempting to "hide his administration's lack of prevention & control measures against the coronavirus".
Chinese news agency Xinhua also proceeded to blast the US politicians who allegedly tend to "cast blame on others when problems arise".
"Under domestic criticism on their sloppy response to the worsening situation of COVID-19, it is not beyond expectation that they posted tweets calling the coronavirus 'Chinese',” the media outlet stated.
There were those, however, who argued that the "Chinese virus" moniker was apt.