Donald Trump insists US is winning coronavirus war as cases hit record high

President Trump leaving a campaign rally at Pensacola aboard Air Force One

Donald Trump claimed the US is beating the Covid-19 virus – even as the country recorded a new record number of new cases in a single day.

The president told supporters at a campaign rally in Florida, that the US was “rounding the turn”.

Mr Trump’s claim came as the US reported a record 84,218 new cases on Friday, due to outbreaks in virtually every part of the country.

A young supporter cheers Trump at a rally at The Villages Polo Field Airport

He told supporters: “We’re rounding the turn, with or without the vaccine, we have the vaccines – they’re going to be great – but with or without it we’re rounding the turn.

“Normal life, that’s all we want, fully resuming, we want normal life to fully resume, and that’s happening.”

Mr Trump cast his ballot in Florida yesterday, telling reporters: “I voted for a guy named Trump.”

JUST VOTED. A great honor!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2020

The president, who used to vote in New York, changed his residency last year and voted in West Palm Beach, which is near his private Mar-a-Lago club.

After voting Mr Trump headlined three rallies in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Joe Biden appeared at two campaign events in Pennsylvania.

Biden’s rallies were drive-in events due to the coronavirus, demonstrating how differently he and the president approach campaign events in the era of the pandemic. At President Trump’s in-person campaign events, there is typically limited social distancing and few attendees are seen wearing masks.

The US death toll has grown to 223,995, according to Johns Hopkins University, with the impact is being felt in every section of the country. Responses include a lockdown that started on Friday at the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota, a plea by Florida health officials for a halt to children’s birthday parties, dire warnings from Utah’s governor, and an increasingly desperate situation at a hospital in northern Idaho, which is running out of space for patients.

Mr Trump is now among millions of Americans who have already cast their vote, including more than six million in California.