US President Donald Trump announced that he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, saying that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered.
The United States — the country that has the most cases and deaths — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita.
“Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued.
“So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.”
Coronavirus cases have spiked in several states, including Oklahoma, and local health officials had asked Trump to postpone the rally, fearing it would contribute to the spread.
Six members of an advance team working in Tulsa ahead of the rally tested positive for COVID-19, the Trump campaign said just hours before the president took the stage.
© Agence France-Presse
