Donald Trump claims 99% coronavirus cases in US are 'harmless' as infections spike

Amid criticism over the country’s response to the coronavirus contagion, US President Donald Trump utilised his address on 244th Independence Day of US to state series of misleading claims. From saying that China will be “held accountable” to claiming that “99 per cent” of COVID-19 cases are harmless in the country. The White House organised an event ‘Salute to America’ with guests mostly defying social distancing and skipping masks on July 4 when the coronavirus infections in the country have surpassed 2.8 million with more than 129,600 deaths. 

Amid such grim times, the President of the world’s most virus-hit country, Donald Trump boasted about the COVID-19 testing that is happening in the United States. He also reiterated that American health professionals have almost “tested 40 million people”. The sudden surge in COVID-19 cases has sent waves of concerns to all state administrations with most of them even rolling back on reopening. Some of the US states have also made wearing masks mandatory in the fear of contracting the novel coronavirus. However, Donald Trump said that the country has been making progress while US top infectious disease expert recently noted that America is ‘not going in the right direction’.

Donald Trump said amid loud cheers by the crowd, "We got hit by the virus that came from China. We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in another area. But we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned how to put out the flame.”

“Now we have tested almost 40m people. By so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless. Results that no other country can show because no other country has the testing that we have, not in terms of the numbers or in terms of quality,” he added.

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US records over 43,000 new cases

Further raising the concerns of the health experts, the US has recorded 43,742 new coronavirus cases on July 4 while the total infections have now spiked to more than 2.8 million as per Johns Hopkins University tally. Moreover, the world’s most virus-hit country reported 252 deaths on July 4 that has brought the total death toll of COVID-19 pandemic in the US to 129,676. Even though the July 4 figures showcased a decline in new cases from a day before when the country reported over 57,600 new cases, the US President Donald Trump has been facing severe backlash for the handling of the global health crisis. 

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