Trump denies downplaying severity of virus

US president Donald Trump has denied downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19, despite admitting in a recorded interview to having done that.

At a televised event with voters, Mr Trump said he had up-played it.

The claim contradicts comments Mr Trump made to journalist earlier this year, when he said he minimised the virus’s severity to avoid panic.

Mr Trump also repeated on Tuesday that a vaccine could be ready within weeks despite scepticism from health experts.

No vaccine has yet completed clinical trials, leading some scientists to fear politics rather than health and safety is driving the push for a vaccine before the 3 November presidential elections.

More than 195,000 people have died with COVID-19 in the US since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.