Coronavirus worse than Pearl Harbour, 9/11 attack: US President Donald Trump

In another attack on China, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called coronavirus the 'worst-attack ever' on the country, adding that it is even worse than Pearl Harbour and 9/11 terror attacks.

Trump blamed China for the pandemic and said that Beijing could have stopped it from spreading across the world.

"This is really the worst attack we’ve ever had. This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Center. There’s never been an attack like this. And it should have never happened. It could have been stopped at the source. It could have been stopped in China. It should have been stopped right at the source, and it wasn’t," President Trump said.

The rift between the two countries was further underlined as US Secretary of the state, Mike Pompeo said in a TV interview that there is huge evidence suggesting that coronavirus originated in Wuhan.

"We took a lot of grief for that from the outset. But I think the whole world can see now. Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running substandard laboratories," Pompeo said.

In April, Trump had said that China will have to face "consequences" if found "knowingly responsible" for the pandemic. "If they were knowingly responsible, certainly," he said, "If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he had said.

Notably, the US has been the worst affected country in the world with over 12,28,603 people to be confirmed positive of COVID-19. In the last 24 hours, the country has reported over 8,000 cases. A total of 73,431 people have succumbed to the virus in the US.