Washington (AFP)

US President Donald Trump attacked his Covid-19 coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, on Monday, whom he accuses of having yielded to pressure from the Democratic opposition by being too pessimistic about the pandemic.

Ms Birx told CNN 24/7 news channel on Sunday that the United States had entered a "new phase" in the health crisis and that people in rural areas of the country, by far the most bereaved in the world by the Covid-19, were not immune.

"Deborah took the bait and hit us. Pitiful!" Donald Trump commented on Twitter Monday.

The Republican billionaire believes that the doctor, responsible for coordinating the White House's response to the pandemic, only adopted this more alarmist tone after being attacked by one of the leaders of the Democratic opposition, Nancy Pelosi.

"The president is spreading disinformation about the virus and she (Dr Birx) is acting as his megaphone," the Speaker of the House of Representatives had denounced on the ABC channel.

The White House was initially stepped up to defend its specialist.

"It is extremely irresponsible on the part of Ms. Pelosi to constantly undermine Dr. Birx and instill distrust of her in the public," tweeted Alyssa Farah, director of communications for the US executive.

Donald Trump used a different tone on Monday.

"Mad Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr Deborah Birx and lashed out at her because she was too positive about the great job we are doing to fight the Chinese virus (...) In order to respond in Nancy, Deborah took the bait and hit us. Pitiful! ", he said.

The president has already distanced himself for several weeks from immunologist Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House crisis cell on the pandemic.

He accused the highly respected figure in the United States of being too "alarmist" and said last week that he found it unfair that the doctor's popularity rating was significantly higher than his.

© 2020 AFP