Rivals set to square off in key states of US Midwest

TAMPA, Florida－US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden were scheduled to square off with rallies in key Midwestern states on Friday as a resurgent coronavirus further highlights their sharp differences just four days before the US presidential election.

Even with the United States reaching another daily record in new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, Trump stuck to his strategy of downplaying its danger and calling for businesses to reopen.

Biden has sought to persuade the few remaining undecided voters that he would provide a steady hand on the wheel and heal the country's "soul", calling Trump irresponsible.

The two candidates plan to be in three Midwestern states on Friday, with both campaigning in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Trump will also travel to Michigan and Biden plans to be in Iowa.

Trump's wins in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania helped propel him to victory in 2016.

Florida rallies

Trump and Biden are concentrating their efforts on battleground states that will decide the election in the days before the Nov 3 polls, and on Thursday both were in the crucial state of Florida.

Trump, 74, held another raucous rally in Tampa, telling the cheering crowd that coronavirus lockdowns under Biden would banish normal life.

"They will allow you nothing," the Republican said.

"We're never going to lock down again.... We're open for business," he said, telling supporters that his own recent bout with COVID-19 proved that it can be beaten.

"You know, the bottom line is you get better," he said.

But the pandemic, which has already taken 228,000 lives in the country and infected nearly 9 million people, has shown its resilience.

On Thursday more than 91,000 new US infections were recorded, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, the highest 24-hour total since the pandemic began.

Biden, addressing a socially distanced drive-in event in Broward County, reminded supporters that of all the states there are few as important as Florida in deciding the outcome of tight elections.

Rebuffing Trump's central charge, the 77-year-old emphasized his claim that he would bring responsible leadership after months of the White House downplaying the virus.

While Trump mocks him for holding small campaign events, Biden said he was leading by example, instead of staging the president's "super-spreader" events.

Agencies via Xinhua