At his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States President Donald Trump told supporters that he asked for the rate of coronavirus testing to be eased down: His reason? There are so many positive cases being discovered in the country.
Reiterating a point he made earlier, the President suggested that the reason the US is leading the world in the number of infections and fatalities is that the government has been conducting so many COVID-19 tests.
Trump triggered outrage after calling the ongoing global health crisis as 'Kung Flu' during his comeback election rally in Tulsa as he claimed that he ordered his administration to slow testing for the virus. But the White House later told members of the press that Trump was merely joking.
Trump told supporters during the rally that 25 million people have so far been tested in the country, far more compared to any other nation in the world. The "bad part," he said, is that massive tests have led to registering more cases of the disease, Daily Mail's Ariel Zilber reported.
The campaign of likely Democratic presidential opponent, Joe Biden, disclosed that Trump was putting traditional politics ahead of the health and well-being of the American people.
Trump decided to hold his first rally in 110 days despite worries from local health authorities that it could lead to the further spread of the coronavirus in Tulsa. Many of those who attended the rally did not wear a face mask.
According to Biden's campaign statement, the President just "admitted that he is putting politics ahead of the safety of the American people, even as we just recorded the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in nearly two months and 20 million people remain out of work," Kevin Freking of the Associated Press reported, as posted on Yahoo News.
The US currently has at least 2.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, based on a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and around 119,000 deaths. Globally, there have been 8.9 million cases and 466,000 fatalities.
While infection rates are dropping in many nations and some parts of the US - including New York, previously "ground zero" of the pandemic - some states have been notching record single-day surges.
An administration official disclosed to CNN that Trump was "obviously kidding." But Biden's camp and Democratic groups are now scrambling to get the President's comment in as many ads as possible, an aide to Biden and operatives from several Democratic super PACs told CNN.
