President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has personally lost five people who contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

"It's a very tough disease. I lost five people that I know. A couple of very good friends, too, out of it," he said in an interview with The Washington Examiner.

Trump added that he's never lost anyone because of the flu. The president did not identify any of the five people and did not elaborate further on who they were. 

Last month, Trump's personal friend and New York real estate mogul Stanley Chera died on from complications of coronavirus.