China's actual Covid-19 death toll much higher, way ahead of the US: Trump

According to Trump, when highly-developed healthcare systems of the UK, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain had high fatality rates, it was 0.33 in China

Expressing his doubts over the official Chinese figures on the number of deaths due to coronavirus, US President Donald Trump said fatalities in the Asian country were way ahead of the US.

Trump's comments come two days after another 1,300 fatalities were added to the official count in the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak started. The revision puts China's overall death toll to more than 4,600.

"We are not number one; China is number one just so you understand," said Trump at a White House news conference on Saturday. "They are way ahead of us in terms of death. It's not even close," he added, news agency PTI reported.

According to Trump, when highly-developed healthcare systems of the UK, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain had high fatality rates, it was O.33 in China.

The president asserted that the actual number was much more than the official Chinese death toll figures, which he said were "unrealistic".

He also highlighted that on a per-capita basis, the mortality rate in the US was far lower than other nations of Western Europe.

Trump has also warned China of consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump, who has expressed his disappointment over handling of the coronavirus disease by China, alleged non-transparency and initial non-cooperation with the US on this issue.

"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he told reporters at a White House news conference on Saturday. "You're talking about, you know, potentially lives like nobody's seen since 1917."

Trump said his relationship with China was very good till the time the deadly Covid-19 swept the world.

"The relationship was good when we were signing that, but then, all of a sudden, you hear about this. So, it's a big difference.

"You know, the question was asked would you be angry at China. Well, the answer very well might be a very resounding yes, but it depends," Trump said.

The president underlined that there was a big difference between a mistake that got out of control or something done deliberately.

"In either event, they should have let us go in. You know, we asked to go in very early and they didn't want us in. I think they knew it was something bad and I think they were embarrassed," Trump said.

He claimed that China was pitching for former vice president Joe Biden, who is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the presidential election.

"If sleepy Joe Biden wins, China will own the United States," Trump said, adding that his administration had gained billions of dollars from China due to his assertive trade policies.

The president said the coronavirus crisis had hurt everybody.

"We had the greatest economy in the world by far. China isn't even close. Go back two months. And we're going to keep it that way," he said.

Meanwhile,  two Republican lawmakers have urged US President Donald Trump to call his counterpart Xi Jinping to immediately close wet markets in China.

In a letter to Trump, Congressman Alcee Hastings and Vern Buchanan expressed grave concerns with China's lax regulation of live animal markets that have been directly connected to the spread of the deadly Covid-19 and other zoonotic diseases.

According to the two lawmakers, expanded oversight on public health grounds was urgently needed to prevent future deadly outbreaks of disease.

In their letter, they pointed out that scientists researching the virus suspect that it moved from animals to humans via contact with, or the consumption of, animals from the identified live animal market.

"It has become clear that the loosely regulated and often inhumane conditions in which animals are slaughtered for human consumption in live animal markets can create ideal conditions for the spread of zoonotic diseases, such as Covid-19," Hastings said.

The lawmaker stressed on the need to sound the alarm now on the urgent need for expanded regulation, elevated enforcement, or closure of these markets.

According to Buchanan, live animal markets had been an incubator of deadly infections like Covid-19.

"These markets are unsanitary and inhumane and have led to the deaths of countless animals and humans," Buchanan said. "They should be shut down immediately to prevent the next outbreak of a deadly virus."

In an accompanying statement, Lisa Vanderpump, founder of The Vanderpump Dog Foundation, said there was a need to address the root of where this devastating pandemic began.

"Any lack of action with regards to addressing the source of this pandemic will present a danger for our future, and the threat that similar diseases will not only reoccur but expand," she said.