US topping COVID-19 cases is ‘badge of honour’, says Donald Trump

President Donald Trump says the feat recorded by US as the top on the list of countries with COVID-19 confirmed cases is a badge of honour.

The country currently has 1,574,507 confirmed cases of the virus, according to Worldometer, a website which provides real-time updates on the virus situation globally.

This figure is higher when compared to an addition of cases in Russia, Spain, Brazil, UK, Italy and France, which ranks second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.

Speaking at his first cabinet meeting since the US outbreak began on Tuesday, Trump said the US has more cases compared to other countries because of its better testing capacity.

The country has tested over 12 million persons, a much higher figure when compared to Russia — over seven million — which is the second country with the highest number of tests conducted.

Trump said he views the country’s spike in cases as a good thing. He said it is proof of the efforts made by the government and those of medical professionals in the US.

“By the way, you know when you say that we lead in cases, that’s because we have more testing than anybody else,” he said.

“So when we have a lot of cases. I don’t look at that as a bad thing, I look at that as, in a certain respect, as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better.

“So I view it as a badge of honour. Really, it’s a badge of honour. It’s a great tribute to the testing and all of the work that a lot of professionals have done.”

Globally, over five million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed but nearly two million patients have recovered.

In US, 93,748 persons have died from the virus, while over 326,000 persons have died from the disease globally.