Trump awards himself A+ on coronavirus despite 200,000 deaths

President claims death toll would be much higher without him

Donald Trump has boasted that he would award his administration an A-plus for its response to the pandemic, despite the fact that more than 200,000 people have now died from the virus in the US.

The president made the comment in an interview with Fox News on Monday, as the country was approaching the grim milestone.

"On public relations I give myself a D," Mr Trump said, blaming “fake news” for his performance in this area. "On the job itself we take an A-plus,” he added.

This is not the first time that he has given himself a top score when evaluating his handling of the coronavirus crisis, after rating his response to the pandemic as 10 out of 10 in a press briefing in mid-March.

On Tuesday, the number of US deaths from Covid-19 rose above the 200,000 mark, with the White House claiming that the death toll would be much higher were it not for the president.

Kayleigh McEnany, Mr Trump’s press secretary, said officials had predicted two million fatalities, a figure which had not previously been mentioned by the president.  

"The fact that we have come nowhere near [two million dead] is a testament to this president taking immediate action," she said.

Mr Trump also defended his decisions, suggesting he has been “doing it right” and alleging that there would have been “two and a half million deaths” without him.

The president has admitted that he knew the severity of the pandemic from early on but chose to “play it down” to the public.

"I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic,” Mr Trump told the journalist Bob Woodward back in March.

The US has so far recorded more deaths from coronavirus than any other country, ahead of Brazil and Mexico, which currently have the second and third highest totals respectively, according to data from John Hopkins University.