BOLDUAN: As state and local authorities are taking steps to try and contain the spread of the coronavirus, and the need for clear information is paramount, the president of the United States is creating more confusion. In an interview with FOX News last night, in primetime, the president chose to publicly dispute a finding by the World Health Organization on the severity of the virus currently. The WHO reporting yesterday that, globally, about 3.4 percent of reported coronavirus cases have died. And here was President Trump's response.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I think 3.4 percent is really a false number. Now, this is just my hunch. But based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this -- because a lot of people will have this and it is very mild. Personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.</s>BOLDUAN: CNN's John Harwood is at the White House, looking at this. John, it is true that the true death rate, if you will, is not yet known and could be less than 3.4 percent because not enough people have been tested. But this is another instance of the president really freelancing on important facts.</s>JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, the president has consistently tried to play down the severity of this situation. Part of the way he's done it has been suggesting that the lethality has been exaggerated. Remember, long before that Hannity interview, he did the same in an exchange with our colleague, Sanjay Gupta, where he was suggesting that the 2 percent estimates that had been initially offered, based on known cases, was too high and that it wasn't -- might not be all that different from the lethality rate from the common flu, which the data that we have shows is much lower. His acting DHS secretary said the same thing in testimony on Capitol Hill, said they were about the same. Last night, in response to the higher WHO, World Health Organization, estimate, he said his hunch was that it was much lower.
Trump Disputes Data on Virus Death Rate, Citing Own "Hunch".