Trump admits to 'playing down' COVID-19 severity in US

In an interview with veteran US journalist Bob Woodward on September 9, United States President Donald Trump confessed having "played it down" with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic and its severity. According to a tally by John Hopkins University, the US has reported a total number of 6,548,340 cases with 195,184 casualties. During the interview, Trump said, "I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic as you say. Certainly, I'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We want to show confidence; we want to show strength, we want to show strength as a nation. That's what I've done. We've done very well."

'The job we have done is incredible'

Praising the US, Trump said, “The job we have done is incredible. We don't want to instill panic and jump up and down that we have a problem. The last thing you want to do is to create panic. It was sent by China--it should've never happened. This was a disgusting, terrible situation that was foisted upon us. I was very open whether it was to (Bob) Woodward or to anybody else”. 

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It was during an interview for Bob Woodward’s upcoming book “Rage”, Trump had said that he "always wanted to play it down". He acknowledged that it was more serious than the flu. Trump said, “To be honest, I wanted to always play it down. I still like to play it down because I don't want to create a panic. You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff”. Trump had also blamed China for the virus and he said that the virus was not "his fault". 

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Trump promises vaccine in Oct

In a separate development a few days back, Trump said at a North Portico press conference that the coronavirus vaccine could be delivered by October, adding, it would be “very safe and effective.” Speaking to the press, Trump touted that his administration was the “absolute leader in every way” and under his leadership, a vaccine will be produced in “record time”. Further, ahead he went on to claim that a vaccine will be available “during the month of October”. Holding a Labor Day press conference at the White House, US President lauded his administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” program, which aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021.

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(With agency inputs)