Trump points to drop in national infections to claim coronavirus is 'disappearing' and cites declining new cases in Florida, Texas and Arizona - despite daily deaths topping 2,000 for the first time since May

Donald Trump has pointed to a drop in national infections and declining new cases in Florida, Texas and Arizona to claim coronavirus is 'disappearing', despite daily deaths topping 2,000 for the first time since May. 

The president claimed that improving figures in the hotspot states show the pandemic 'is disappearing' across the country. 

'It will disappear,' he said at a press conference Friday night at his golf club in New Jersey.  

His latest downplaying of the virus comes two days after he made a similarly optimistic claim that the deadly virus 'will go away like things go away' on Wednesday as he urged US schools to reopen on time for face-to-face lessons. 

Trump's unwavering confidence that the pandemic is soon to be a distant memory contradicts grave warnings issued by the nation's top health experts Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx this week and comes as the US set a grim record number of deaths for the first time in two months.

Another 2,060 Americans were killed by the virus in the last 24 hours as of 8.30pm on Thursday - the deadliest day for the nation since May 7.  

Total deaths in the US have now topped 161,000 - nearly a quarter of the global COVID-19 death toll - and almost 5 million Americans have been infected with the virus. 

Around 1,000 Americans are dying every day, with deaths soaring by 10,000 in just nine days.  

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Donald Trump has again claimed that coronavirus is 'disappearing' despite daily deaths topping 2,000 nationwide for the first time since May and cases climbing towards the 5 million milestone 

However despite the concerning death rates, Trump continued to insist the US is 'doing very well' with infections on the decline nationwide.

'In the US, more than 80 percent of jurisdictions report declining cases. We're doing very well, you don't hear that often in the media,' he said Friday. 

Trump continued: 'We have a very large country, a very complex country. More than half of America's counties report fewer than 20 cases last week.

'We're doing very well but we have to remain vigilant.'  

It was unclear how Trump was defining 'jurisdictions' or what tally he was using to reach his optimistic conclusions.  

He pointed to Arizona, Texas and Florida as apparent success stories - states that saw cases and deaths soar after rushing to reopen their economies. 

'The southern states that were a very strong hotspot not long ago - Arizona, Texas, and Florida continue to show significant improvement, including increased availability of hospital beds,' Trump said.  

'Arizona now has the smallest number of coronavirus inpatients since mid-June,' Trump continued. 'Texas is stabilizing and improving rapidly.'

'Florida is also stabilizing, its statewide positive test rate continues to decrease, from 13 percent on July 23 to 8 percent this week. Florida has done very well,' Trump said. 

'Even Miami, which was the hottest spot in Florida, is heading down very rapidly.'

The three states have shown declining new cases and hospitalizations for the past several weeks, after they constantly topped grim daily records of cases and deaths and state hospitals burst at the seams.  

But while infections appear to be declining in California, Florida and Texas, many of the new deaths have come from these hotspot states and they also continue to be the top three states for total cases.  

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The national picture is similarly mixed. The current seven-day average of daily cases is down from a peak of well over 70,000 in the second half of July when the virus was surging in Sunbelt states and total infections have fallen for the second week in a row. 

Yet a staggering 60,000 new cases are being reported each day and deaths have been increasing for a month. 

On a per-capita basis, the US now ranks 10th highest in the world for both cases and deaths. 

Deaths are still rising in 23 states, while cases are increasing in 20 states, according to a Reuters analysis comparing data from the past two weeks to the previous two.    

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Trump said his administration is 'carefully monitoring California's Central Valley, as well as San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco, which are starting to stabilize and go down.'

Several regions where cases are on the rise, including Boston, Chicago and the Midwest, are also being carefully monitored, he added.

'It's vital that all Americans work together to protect the most vulnerable,' Trump said. 'Approximately half of all deaths have occurred in nursing homes and long term care facilities.'  

New outbreaks are also emerging coast-to-coast with White House coronavirus task force coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, warning this week that the cities of Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Washington could face outbreaks due to an uptick in the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive. 

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Following her warning, fellow task force member Dr Anthony Fauci said on Thursday: 'This is a predictor of trouble ahead.' 

Fauci was asked on CNN about Birx's comments identifying new areas of concern in major cities, even as authorities see encouraging signs across the South.  

Even in cities and states where most people are doing things right, Fauci said, a segment of people not wearing masks or following social distancing remains vulnerable to infection and can keep the virus smoldering in US communities.

'Unless everybody pulls together, and gets the level way down over baseline, we're going to continue to see these kind of increases that Dr Birx was talking about in several of those cities,' Fauci said.

Public health experts have in recent days sent regular warnings to cities and states not to relax anti-coronavirus measures too much before the virus is under sufficient control.  

It comes as a new forecast predicted the US death toll would almost double by the end of the year but 70,000 lives could be saved if everyone wears a mask.  

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics revised its death toll forecast on Thursday to predict nearly 300,000 deaths by December 1.

Researchers say that 70,000 lives could be saved if 95 percent of Americans wear masks from today when they leave their homes.  

IHME Director Dr Christopher Murray acknowledged there appears to be fewer transmissions of the virus in the hotspot states of Arizona, California, Florida and Texas but said deaths are rising and will continue to rise for the next week or two.

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CHICAGO: In Chicago, there are an average of 294 new cases and two deaths every day. As of Thursday, there were 62,797 cases of COVID-19 and 2,798 deaths among Chicago residents

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WASHINGTON: The total number of positive cases in Washington DC is now at 12,589 and deaths are at 589

BOSTON: In Boston, the number of infections has now reached 14,323 and the death toll is at 735

DETROIT: In Detroit, there have have been 12,914 confirmed cases and 1,493 deaths

He put the drop in infections down to a combination of local mandates for mask use, bar and restaurant closures and more responsible behavior by the public. 

'The public's behavior had a direct correlation to the transmission of the virus and, in turn, the numbers of deaths,' Murray said. 

'Such efforts to act more cautiously and responsibly will be an important aspect of COVID-19 forecasting and the up-and-down patterns in individual states throughout the coming months and into next year.

'We're seeing a rollercoaster in the United States.

'It appears that people are wearing masks and socially distancing more frequently as infections increase, then after a while as infections drop, people let their guard down and stop taking these measures to protect themselves and others – which, of course, leads to more infections. And the potentially deadly cycle starts over again.'  

Murray said that based on cases, hospitalizations and deaths, several states are seeing increases in the transmission of COVID-19, including Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Virginia.

'These states may experience increasing cases for several weeks and then may see a response toward more responsible behavior,' Murray said. 

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The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics revised its death toll forecast on Thursday to predict nearly 300,000 deaths by December 1. Researchers say that 70,000 lives could be saved if 95 percent of Americans wear masks from today when they leave their homes