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Swarajya Staff
Apr 19, 2020, 01:01 PM | Updated 01:00 PM IST
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US President Donald Trump said on Saturday (18 April) that China should face consequences if it is revealed that it was "knowingly responsible" for the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, reports Hindustan Times.
Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump told reporters, “It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t, and the whole world is suffering because of it.”
He added, "If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences. You're talking about, you know, potentially lives like nobody's seen since 1917."
Trump said that his relationship with China was very good till the time the deadly COVID-19 swept the world.
"You know, the question was asked would you be angry at China. Well, the answer very well might be a very resounding yes, but it depends," Trump said.
Several US officials have also pointed out that China was under-reporting its cases. On Wednesday, Trump asked why the US accounted for such a high proportion of the global death toll, he accused other countries of lying about their mortality rates
"Does anybody really believe the numbers of some of these countries?" he asked, naming China.
Earlier, French President Macron also questioned China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying "happened that we don't know about."