Donald Trump said "to me corona means Italy" before calling it the "China virus" as he detailed his own fight with the killer bug.
During a rambling election rally speech at DSM International Airport in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, the US President also referred to 14-year-old son Barron testing positive.
First Lady Melania - who had also been isolating at the White House after contracting the virus two weeks ago - revealed earlier in the day how the couple's teenager had fought off Covid-19.
In March, Italy had taken over from China as the world's epicentre for the growing pandemic, with its hardest hit region Lombardy seeing a huge surge in deaths.