India has been devastated by COVID-19, China must pay: Donald Trump
New Delhi : Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that India has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, and China must pay 10 trillion dollars to the US for allegedly being responsible for the spread of COVID-19 globally.
Speaking to a news channel, Donald Trump said, China should pay even more amount to the world for the losses but currently they are capable of paying 10 trillion.
"The number (compensation) is much higher than that. But there's only so much they can pay. And that's to us ( United States). The number is bigger throughout the world. Look, countries have been destroyed over what they did, and whether by accident or not. And I would hope that it was an accident. I hope that it was through incompetence or an accident," Trump said in response to a question.
"But, when you look, whether it was by an accident, whether it was -- whatever it is, this -- you look at these countries. They will never, ever be the same. Our country was hit so hard. But other countries were hit much harder," he said as he went on to cite India, which is currently experiencing the worst ever public health crisis.
"Look at what's going on in India now. You know, they used to say, look how well India was doing, because they were always looking for an excuse -- look how well India is doing. The fact that India has just been devastated now, and virtually, every country has been devastated," Trump said.
"I think that's one of the reasons that I feel it's very important to find out where it came from, how it came. I think I know. I mean, I feel certain about it. But certainly, China should help. Right now, their economy and our economy are the two economies that are coming back the fastest," he argued.
The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in December 2019. Trump has alleged that the virus was leaked from a Wuhan lab.
The total number of coronavirus cases globally are 177,136,569 and 3,835,123 people have died from it, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker on Thursday.
