Trump says 'Chinese virus' comment 'very accurate'

• "China was putting out information which was false," he said.
• "I didn't appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them. Our military did not give it to anybody."

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump doubled down Tuesday on calling the coronavirus spreading rapidly across the world the "Chinese Virus," despite protests from Beijing.

"It did come from China, so I think it's very accurate," Trump told a news conference, defending an earlier tweet in which he used the label for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump indicated that another motive was payback for what he said was China's disinformation campaign blaming the US military for the virus.

"China was putting out information which was false," he said.

"I didn't appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them. Our military did not give it to anybody."