Trump says coronavirus crisis 'worse than Pearl Harbor' or 9/11

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic has hit the United States harder than Pearl Harbor in World War II or the 9/11 attacks.

"We went through the worst attack we've ever had on our country. This is really the worst attack we've ever had," he told reporters at the White House.

"This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Center," he said.

The surprise Japanese attack in 1941 on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii drew the United States into World War II.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks killed about 3,000 people, mostly in the World Trade Center in New York, triggering two decades of US wars and anti-terrorism operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.

So far, more than 70,000 Americans have died in the flu-like global pandemic, while severe social distancing measures to stop the virus have forced the shutdown of much of the economy.