Coronavirus: Donald Trump says US is way ahead of India in testing, claims PM Modi praised him
‘By far, we’ve tested more people than India, than many, many big countries put together,’ Trump said at an election rally in Nevada.
by Scroll StaffUnited States President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that his country was way ahead of India in terms of coronavirus testing and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised him for ramping up testing capacity amid the escalating health crisis. The US and India are the world’s two worst coronavirus-hit countries.
“By far, we’ve tested more people than India, than many, many big countries put together,” Trump said at an election rally in Nevada. “India is second [in terms of testing]. We’re 44 million tests ahead of India. They have 1.5 billion [150 crore] people. And Prime Minister Modi calls me and says, what a job you’ve done with testing.”
Trump said that the media needs to see that his administration is doing a better job than the previous one. “I said, explain that to these dishonest people [an apparent reference to journalists],” Trump said. “[Joe] Biden’s record demonstrates that if he had been in charge, when the China virus arrived, hundreds of thousands of more Americans would have died. As vice president, he presided over the worst and the weakest and the slowest economic recovery, since the Great Depression.”
The Trump administration had claimed even in July that it was ahead of all countries in terms of testing. “So we’ve done more than any country in the world on testing; there’s no doubt about that – 42 million [4.2 crore] tests,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had said. “The country with the next highest number is India at 12 million [1.2 crore].”
The United States has reported more than 65 lakh cases and over 1.94 lakh deaths so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University. India, on the other hand, has recorded 48,46,428 cases and 79,722 deaths. As many as 37,80,107 people have recovered.
Trump’s criticism of Joe Biden
The US president lashed out at his democratic rival over an advertisement campaign, which was based on his alleged disregard of military personnel, Politico magazine reported.
“Pathetic Joe,” he said. “He’s a pathetic human being to allow that to happen. But you know the good part? Now I can be really vicious. Once I saw that ad, I don’t have to be nice anymore.”
Trump claimed that Biden’s failures had hit the state of Nevada the most, PTI reported. “This is not the guy you want,” he said.
He added: “Now he [Biden] wants to surrender our country to the violent left wing mob. If Biden wins, China wins. If Biden wins, the mob wins. If Biden wins the rioters win, the anarchists win, the flag burners, the anarchists win.”
Trump referred to Biden as the “worst candidate” in the history of presidential politics.
Also read: The two largest democracies in the world are the sickest now