Published 10:30 IST, July 8th 2020
China's Trump frustration evident as its Foreign Affairs spox starts retweeting his trolls
China hit back at the US for its allegations over Coronavirus by retweeting Stephen King’s post calling COVID-19 an ‘American virus’ as a jibe at Donald Trump
The increasing spat between the US and China has worsened with Donald Trump continuous calling out of Beijing for ‘spreading’ the Coronavirus pandemic that has now claimed the lives of more than 130,000 Americans. Over the last two months, the US President has termed COVID-19 as ‘China virus’ or ‘Chinese virus’ to constantly remind that the pandemic originated in Wuhan, amid other constant attacks.
The same is also evident in his recent tweets in which Trump is seen justifying the rising number of positive cases by stating that the mortality rate has reduced ‘significantly’ in the United States. In one such tweet, Trump said, ‘New China Virus Cases are up (because of massive testing), deaths are down, “low and steady”. The Fake News Media should report this and also, that new job numbers are setting records!’ he said on Tuesday.
‘American virus’
Noting that the US maintains the highest record of Coronavirus cases reported till date, American author Stephen King responded to Trump’s tweet, calling COVID-19 an ‘American virus’. Ceasing the moment to hit back at the US for its allegations, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Hua Chunying shared Stephen King’s post as a jibe at Trump.
US Coronavirus deaths surpass 130,000
The United States surpassed 130,000 deaths in its battle with the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday as new cases surge across the country, placing Donald Trump's response to the crisis under severe scrutiny. According to the Johns Hopkins University tally, a total of 130,007 were reported as of Monday. Nationally, the total number of cases is nearing three million, the highest tally in the world and double the infections reported in the second-most affected country Brazil. Trump has now launched an all-out effort to reopen schools this fall, arguing that some states are keeping schools closed not because of the coronavirus pandemic but for political reasons.
Updated 10:30 IST, July 8th 2020