PRESIDENT Donald Trump has announced that China is “way ahead of US” in coronavirus death toll.
The president made the announcement during a White House press conference on Saturday.
The comment came despite America leading the world in official coronavirus figures.
He said: “We’re not number one, China is number one.
“China is number one by a lot. It’s not even close.
“They are way ahead of us in terms of deaths.
“You know it. I know it. They know it.
“But you don’t want to report it. Why? You’ll have to explain that.”
When being questioned about the repercussions for who started the coronavirus outbreak, Trump said: “If they (China) were knowingly responsible then yes there should be consequences…”
Trump also confirmed that he would be speaking at The United States Military Academy graduation on June 13.
The president’s announcement comes just hours after America’s top expert on infectious disease suggested China is lying about the true scale of its coronavirus outbreak.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he didn’t believe China has handed over all of its data on the coronavirus and suggested there had been an early lack of transparency.
He also cast doubt that China, which has a population of more than 1.3 billion people, had only reported 3,346 confirmed coronavirus deaths.
Fauci said he didn’t “feel confident at all” that China’s “low number” of cases and deaths were accurate.
He told Fox News: “I think any of us who have been dealing with this now for the last few months don’t feel confident at all that we have all of the data of the originally infected individuals, how long there were people in the circulation or even now, how many deaths there really are in China.”
Dr Fauci added: “That number’s really rather a low number, that number surprises me that that number is so low.”
The current coronavirus death toll in the US is 37,135.
The total number of confirmed cases is currently 709,201.
However, at least 59,997 people have recovered from the deadly disease.
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