Trump Says Record-Breaking COVID-19 Figures Exaggerated

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Sunday the record-breaking numbers of new COVID-19 cases, nearly 300,000 in the past 24 hours, are exaggerated due to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) method of counting.

“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," Trump tweeted Sunday after the figures were made public.

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. “When in doubt, call it Covid.” Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2021

​Trump went on to claim that health authorities misdiagnose other ailments as COVID-19, saying "when in doubt, call it Covid."

According to the figures provided by the Johns Hopkins University, which tallies figures from state health authorities and hospitals, a total of 299,087 new cases of infection were recorded across the US. This takes the US to a total of nearly 20.5 million registered cases, nearly double that of the second most highly infected country India.