The diseases expert leading the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said that he has never called the coronavirus the “Chinese virus”.

In an interview with Science magazine on Sunday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he will never name the virus in the same way that President Donald Trump has done in recent days.

The US President has dismissed claims that referring to the coronavirus as the “China” or “Chinese virus” was racist, insisting that it was “accurate”.

Dr Fauci told Science magazine on Sunday that he generally did not disagree with the substance of Mr Trump’s messaging, but that announcements were made “in a way that I would not express it, because it could lead to some misunderstanding about what the facts are about a given subject.”

He said: “I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down.”

According to the immunologist, the Trump administration needed things to be repeated four times before action was taken. He said: “When you’re dealing with the White House, sometimes you have to say things 1,2,3,4 times, and then it happens. So I’m going to keep pushing.”

Despite praise from the President he had become “become a major television star”, Dr Fauci criticised Mr Trump for shaking hands on stage during the daily coronavirus taskforce briefings.

He told Science magazine: “We should not be doing that. Not only that – we should be physically separating a bit more on those press conferences.”

The interview comes amid mounting speculation about tensions between Mr Trump and Dr Fauci, who last week publicly rebuked the President’s claim that chloroquine could be immediately introduced to treat coronavirus.

On Friday, Dr Fauci appeared to facepalm at the President’s remark about “the Deep state Department”.

The leading doctor told the New York Times in an interview published on Saturday that he was performing a balancing act with the Trump administration. He said: “I had been walking a fine line; I’ve been telling the president things he doesn’t want to hear. I have publicly had to say something different with what he states”.