WASHINGTON : With 81,973 Americans testing positive for Covid-19, the US has overtaken China as the country with the largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. China’s last official figures released put the tally there at 81,285.
US President Donald Trump said the figures were a “tribute to our testing” referring to meticulous screening that also included tests on asymptomatic persons for the virus.
On US's top Covid status Trump hed defense saying “Number one, you don’t know what the numbers are in China” adding that “We are testing tremendous numbers of people.”
Trump administration stepped travel restrictions, banning foreign nationals travelling from China, Iran, the UK, Ireland and EU’s Schengen passport-free travel are from entering the US.
Beijing meanwhile went a step ahead blocking arrivals of all foreign nationals into the country, announcing the ban on Thursday. However a small number of diplomatic personnel would be exempt, the foreign ministry clarified.
