US President Donald Trump's son Eric has drawn criticism after claiming the coronavirus will "magically" disappear after the presidential election in November.
The president's middle son claimed COVID-19 was a "cognisant strategy" on the part of Democrat candidate Joe Biden and his party to disrupt the President's re-election bid.
"They think they're taking away Donald Trump's greatest tool, which is to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every time," he told Fox News.
US President Donald Trump. Source: ABACA
"You watch - they will milk it every single day between now and 3 November. And guess what - after 3 November, coronavirus will magically, all of a sudden, go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen."
Public health experts have warned that a vaccine could take at least 18 months to develop, while
While more than 100 vaccines are in various stages of development, experts have warned of the difficulties in finding an effective vaccine and WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan said the virus "may never go away".
The United States has the world's largest coronavirus outbreak by far, with nearly 90,000 deaths among more than 1.5 million reported COVID-19 infections.
Eric Trump's comments have drawn comparisons to his father's comments in February, when he told reporters the virus would soon disappear "like a miracle".
He added that Mr Biden "loves" the current coronavirus restrictions, saying he could not draw crowds that compare with his father's.
Mr Biden's deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield responded to Mr Trump's comments on Monday, labelling his assessment "stunning and unbelievably reckless".
"The simple fact is that President Trump ignored the threat of the coronavirus for months and has mishandled the response at every step since," she said.
“Trump's campaign knows he can't run on that dismal record so they're desperate to do whatever they can to throw up a smokescreen to try to conceal his historic mismanagement of this crisis."
Misinformation campaigns about the virus, who is causing it and how long it might last have been widespread since the outbreak's start.
An April report by marketing and social media analysts Graphika found .
Mr Trump's comments come as the President's Republican party doubled down on its plans to gather tens of thousands of people in North Carolina over the summer for its presidential nominating convention.
Joe Biden's campaign has labelled Eric Trump's comments "unbelievably reckless". Source: AP
The Republican National Committee released a statement over the weekend saying it is still expecting up to 50,000 attendees at the 24 August convention despite the coronavirus pandemic.
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