President Donald Trump was informed in late January of a memo written by his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, warning that 'half a million American souls' could die of coronavirus, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Trump has denied he saw the memo at the time.
The Times also reported that Trump was displeased that Navarro had put the information in writing.
Navarro had also urged in the memo to limit travel from China, then the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to The Times, aides discussed the memo with Trump, and he was displeased Navarro put the information in writing.
Navarro also wrote a second memo on February 23 warning that up to "1 [to] 2 million souls" could die of the virus, according to Axios.
Just one day later, Trump tweeted that the coronavirus was "very much under control in the USA. »