With the election 8 days away, Trump lies about why coronavirus rates are hitting record highs and calls the media ‘losers’ for covering the surging pandemic

• President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed the severity of the coronavirus on Twitter as new cases reached record highs across the US last week.
• “Cases up because we TEST, TEST, TEST,” Trump wrote. “A Fake News Media Conspiracy. Many young people who heal very fast.”
• On October 23, daily coronavirus infections in the US were above 85,000 cases for the first time since the pandemic began, according to The New York Times.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump on Monday continued to downplay the severity of the coronavirus although new cases hit record highs across the US last week, with only eight days remaining until the general election.

Trump began the morning assuaging supporters about the state of country and complaining that reported coronavirus cases are rising due to increased testing, a false claim that he also touted as the disease spread over the summer.

“Cases up because we TEST, TEST, TEST,” he wrote. “A Fake News Media Conspiracy. Many young people who heal very fast. 99.9%. Corrupt media conspiracy at all time high. On November 4th, topic will totally change. VOTE!”

In another tweet, Trump added: “The Fake News Media is riding COVID, COVID, COVID, all the way to the Election! Losers!”

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2020

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2020

At a October 24 campaign rally in Lumberton, North Carolina, Trump was complimentary of his administration’s efforts to defeat the virus, despite ignoring the reality of the statistics.

“Now we got to have spirit, our country,” he said. “We’re rounding the turn. Our numbers are incredible.”

Trump then lamented that coronavirus has taken over the public consciousness and pointed fingers at the media, even suggesting that they ignored a plane crash, which never occured.

“That’s all I hear about now,” he said. “Turn on television, ‘Covid, Covid, Covid Covid Covid.’ A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don’t talk about it. ‘Covid Covid Covid Covid.’ By the way, on November 4, you won’t hear about it anymore.”

On October 23, daily coronavirus infections in the US soared above 85,000 cases for the first time since the pandemic began, The New York Times reported. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in October are up more than 33 percent from September, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The US continues to lead the world in both confirmed cases and deaths. As of Monday, there have been more than 8.6 million cases and 225,000 deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University.