Top US medical officials on Sunday contradicted outgoing President Donald Trump’s claims that the country’s escalating Covid-19 death figures had been grossly exaggerated.
As the number of fatalities from coronavirus rose above 340,000 over the weekend, Mr Trump dismissed the figures as “fake news”, claiming the method used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to count cases was out of step with other countries.
“The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of @CDCgov’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low,” the president tweeted on Sunday morning.
“When in doubt, call it Covid. Fake News!”
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said the numbers of Covid-19 deaths “are real” and that the evidence can be seen in hospitals across the…