Virus expert breaks with Trump on pandemic 'turn'

COVID-19 was the No 1 issue in the presidential election, with US President Donald Trump telling campaign rallies that the United States has "rounded the turn" on the pandemic, but a top White House adviser on the coronavirus has broken ranks with Trump.

Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House task force on the virus, has called for "an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented" and warned that the pandemic could be about to enter a "deadly phase" with 100,000 infections a day.

Birx said in an internal report for White House officials that was obtained by The Washington Post on the eve of Tuesday's presidential election: "We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of the pandemic … leading to increasing mortality.

"This is not about lockdowns; it hasn't been about lockdowns since March or April. It's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented."

She also says in the report: "Cases are rapidly rising in nearly 30 percent of all USA counties, the highest number of county hot spots we have seen with this pandemic. Half of the United States is in the red or orange zone for cases despite flat or declining testing."

More than 9.3 million people had been infected with the coronavirus in the US by Wednesday, with more than 232,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Trump has praised his "phenomenal job" of handling the coronavirus pandemic. And Democratic rival Joe Biden has repeatedly played up Trump's "mishandling" of the virus as he crisscrossed the country on campaign stops.

On Friday, the US set a record high of 99,321 cases－the highest single-day figure in the world－according to Johns Hopkins University.

Repetitive complaints

Trump has repeatedly complained that the media is too focused on "Covid! Covid, Covid, Covid".

When Trump supporters at a rally late on Monday night in Florida chanted "Fire Fauci!", Trump suggested that he would consider firing Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases since 1984. "Don't tell anybody but let me wait till a little bit after the election," Trump responded to the chant.

On Monday night, Biden said at a rally in Cleveland: "Trump said he was going to fire Dr Fauci. Isn't that wonderful? I got a better idea. Elect me, and I'm going to hire Dr Fauci, and we're going to fire Donald Trump."

Fauci stoked Trump's anger after saying last week that there could be a record surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations this winter. "We're in for a whole lot of hurt," he told The Washington Post.

Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, on Tuesday warned that the US soon could have 1,000 people dying a day for a "sustained period of time". And he echoed Birx by saying that there could be 100,000 infections a day in the next couple of weeks.