
US President Donald Trump claimed without evidence on Saturday that 99% of coronavirus cases "are totally harmless" during remarks on the White House South Lawn, in which he sought to downplay the recent surge of Covid-19 cases.
“Now we have tested, almost 40 million people. By so doing, we show cases -- 99% of which are totally harmless -- results that no other country can show because no other country has testing that we have. Not in terms of the numbers, or in terms of the quality,” he said, once again also falsely claiming that rising cases are caused by increased testing.
There have been more than 2.8 million cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 129,000 people in the United States have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s latest tally.
Some people who become ill have only mild symptoms, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 35% of cases are asymptomatic, but even people with mild or no symptoms can spread the virus to others.
While the World Health Organization has said the global fatality rate is like less than 1%, the WHO also said about 20% of all people who are diagnosed with Cornoavirus aresick enough to need oxygen or hospital care.
The White House has not returned a message seeking comment.