United States President Donald Trump on Thursday once again hit out at Beijing for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the “plague from China should have never happened”. The coronavirus, which has globally infected over one crore people and caused 5.20 lakh deaths, is believed to have originated late last year in a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

“The arrival of the plague from China — and that’s what it is; it is a plague and it should have never happened,” Trump said during the “Spirit of America Showcase” in the Grand Foyer of the White House. “China should have never let that happen, but China did allow it to happen.”

Advertisement

Trump added that US had just signed a brand-new trade deal with Beijing, and “the ink was not even dry” when the pandemic came over.

On Tuesday, Trump said that he was growing “more and more angry at China” over the spread of the coronavirus even as the American government’s top health expert warned that the rate of Covid-19 infections could double to one lakh a day if current outbreaks were not contained.

US is the worst-affected by the pandemic in the world and with over 27.39 lakh cases of the coronavirus, including 1.28 lakh deaths, as of Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The country reported around 55,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday – the highest single-day increase recorded in any country, according to a Reuters count.

Advertisement

Trump has been incessantly attacking China over the coronavirus outbreak. In May, he accused Beijing of deliberately “not stopping the plague” that their country spread throughout the world. “Spokesman speaks stupidly on behalf of China, trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world,” Trump had added.

The US president had also threatened China with new tariffs, claiming that he had seen evidence linking a Wuhan lab to the Covid-19 infection. However, the World Health Organization had dismissed these claims.