UK government ministers and officials have privately reacted with “a general level of incredulity” at Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.



A UK official — one of several members of the government who spoke to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity about the Trump administration’s response to the virus — said the president’s public statements have caused “more than the usual eyerolling” in London.

In particular, Trump’s false claims about the outbreak of the disease caused by the coronavirus, COVID-19, his tweets, and the failure of the US authorities to adequately test for the virus early on have caused “genuine disbelief” in Whitehall, the official said.

Referring to the UK government’s creation this week of a "fake news unit" to prevent the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus, they added: "Our COVID-19 counter-disinformation unit would need twice the manpower if we included him in our monitoring."

In response to questions about the US response, the World Health Organisation told BuzzFeed News that all countries must "take seriously" the threat of the virus and "work hard" to ensure testing of potential new cases.

The criticism came as Trump fired off a series of tweets on Monday morning attempting to downplay the threat and using it to attack his Democrat opponents.