US President Donald Trump’s downplaying the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States is a historic national tragedy, said the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, here on Wednesday (local time).

“The President’s own words spell out the devastating truth: Trump was fully aware of the catastrophic nature of the coronavirus but hid the facts and refused to take the threat seriously, leaving our entire country exposed and unprepared,” Pelosi said in a statement.

“So much of this pain could have been avoided, but President Trump refused to tell the truth or to act to protect the American people. The horrifying toll of Trump’s deadly disinformation and negligence in the lives of grieving families and to our economy is a historic national tragedy,” she added.

Also read| Trump knew exactly how serious Covid-19 is, but downplayed it: Book

Pelosi further went on the attack and said that Trump “still refuses to listen to scientists” as cases and deaths continue to mount in the United States.

“Even now, the President still refuses to listen to science and take the action necessary to crush the virus and protect the lives and livelihoods of the American people,” said the speaker.

Pelosi further called for a science-based strategic plan to defeat Covid-19. She said further, “We must have a science-based strategic plan to defeat the coronavirus, as advanced in the Heroes Act that Senate Republicans continue to block.”

In journalist Bob Woodward’s book, Trump revealed that he “played it down” with regard to the severity of Covid-19 to the American people as he “didn’t want to create panic”.

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Trump further told Woodward that the virus was not “his fault” and that China was responsible for it. “The virus has nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault. It’s — China let the damn virus out,” as per CNN quoting Trump in his interaction with the journalist.

The US has a total of 6,350,475 Covid-19 cases and 190,447 deaths due to the coronavirus, as per the latest update by Johns Hopkins University.