President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the White House defended comparing the coronavirus to the flu.

White House reporters questioned Trump’s early reaction to the coronavirus, accusing him of downplaying the threat by comparing it to the flu.

“The flu is nothing to sneeze at,” Trump said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Trump reminded reporters that the worst pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu.

“It was in 1917-1918, anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people died. That was the flu, ok?” he said.

The president has routinely spoken about the death toll caused by the seasonal flu and compared it to coronavirus, when the death count was still low.