Hindustan Times (Ranchi)

99% cases in US harmless: Trump

- ■ letters@hindustant­imes.com

WASHINGTON : President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that 99% of coronaviru­s cases in the US were “totally harmless,” as the 4th of July weekend to mark Independen­ce Day added to worries of further spread of the pandemic.

Many states marked a record number of new Covid-19 cases. In Texas alone, 7,890 patients were hospitalis­ed after 238 new admissions over the past 24 hours. Florida has reported a new record of 11,445 cases. Officials and health authoritie­s warned people to take precaution­s or simply stay home on Independen­ce Day. The US set another daily record Friday with more than 54,000 newly reported infections, according to numbers kept by Johns Hopkins University. The daily toll reported on Saturday also passed 50,000.

Upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the pandemic, Trump said China must be held fully accountabl­e for its “secrecy, deception and cover-up” that allowed it to spread the coronaviru­s all over the world. He touted the country’s “progress” against the pandemic saying, “We have the manufactur­ing record for ventilator­s. We have the most and the finest testing anywhere in the world.”

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that 99% of coronaviru­s cases in the US were “totally harmless,” as the 4th of July weekend to mark Independen­ce Day added to worries of further spread of the pandemic.

Many states marked a record number of new Covid-19 cases. In Texas alone, 7,890 patients were hospitalis­ed after 238 new admissions over the past 24 hours. Florida has reported a new record of 11,445 cases.

Officials and health authoritie­s warned people to take precaution­s or simply stay home on Independen­ce Day.

The US set another daily record Friday with more than 54,000 newly reported infections, according to numbers kept by Johns Hopkins University. The daily toll reported on Saturday also passed 50,000.

Upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the pandemic, Trump said China must be held fully accountabl­e for its

“secrecy, deception and cover-up” that allowed it to spread the coronaviru­s all over the world. He touted the country’s “progress” against the pandemic saying, “We have the manufactur­ing record for ventilator­s. We have the most and the finest testing anywhere in the world.”

We are producing gowns, masks, and surgical equipment in our country…It was almost exclusivel­y made in foreign lands, in particular, China, where ironically this virus and others came from. China’s secrecy, deception, and cover-up allowed it to spread all over the world, 189 countries and China must be held fully accountabl­e.”

The US has more than 2.8 million confirmed cases — about a quarter of worldwide infections, which is widely thought to understate the true toll, partially because of asymptomat­ic cases and limited testing.

“I’m really, really worried about the Fourth of July,” said Dr. Don Williamson, a former state health officer who now heads the Alabama Hospital Associatio­n.

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US President Donald Trump
■ US President Donald Trump
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Fireworks over Washington Monument to mark July 4.
AFP ■ Fireworks over Washington Monument to mark July 4.

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