🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
As coronavirus cases in the U.S. approach nearly 6.9 million, with over 199,000 deaths to date, President Donald Trump has claimed the country's COVID-19 figures are "much better than Europe," in an interview Monday with the Fox News Channel.
"Now they're having a big outbreak in Europe. They just had a big outbreak... It's different parts of Europe. Everyone said what a great job they did and they had a great outbreak. Our numbers are much better than Europe," Trump said in the interview.
However, the current total number of cases in Europe, as well as infection rates and deaths rates in some of Europe's worst-hit countries, are reported to be lower than in the U.S., according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Total confirmed cases in the U.S. (6,740,464) currently surpasses the latest count in Europe, which has a total of 5,236,252 confirmed cases, according to the latest report Tuesday from WHO.
Europe has a population of over 916 million across the 53 countries that fall within WHO's Europe region.
Despite having a population nearly three times larger than that of the U.S. (over 322 million), Europe has seen fewer total cases than the U.S. to date, according to WHO.
The U.S. currently has an infection rate of 20,363.78 cases per one million people, which is higher than that reported in at least five of Europe's worst-hit countries, including Spain (13,689.3 cases per 1 million), France (6,624.8), the U.K. (5,807.69), Italy (4,931.31) and Germany (3,250.47), according to WHO.
The U.S. currently has a death rate of 61.09 deaths per 100,000 people, which is higher than that reported in most of Europe, except for Spain, the U.K., Belgium, Andorra (an independent principality located between France and Spain) and San Marino (a microstate enclosed by northwest Italy), according to the latest report Tuesday by JHU.
The U.S. was reported to have a higher death rate than most European countries listed among the 20 countries "most affected by COVID-19 worldwide," except for Spain, according to the latest report Tuesday by JHU.
The death rate in the U.S. was higher than that reported in France (46.79), Romania (22.89), Russia (13.44), Turkey (9.20) and Ukraine (8.18), among the 20 countries "most affected by COVID-19 worldwide," according to the latest report Tuesday by JHU.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.
COVID-19 cases per 1 million in U.S. vs. Europe
Source: WHO, as of September 22
- U.S.: 20,363.78 cases per 1 million people
- Spain: 13,689.3
- France: 6,624.8
- U.K.: 5,807.69
- Italy: 4,931.31
- Germany: 3,250.47
COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 in U.S. vs. Europe
Source: Johns Hopkins University, as of September 22
- U.S.: 61.09 deaths per 100,000 people
- Spain: 65.63 deaths
- France: 46.79
- Romania: 22.89
- Russia: 13.44
- Turkey: 9.20
- Ukraine: 8.18
The wider picture
The novel coronavirus has infected over 31.3 million people across the globe since it was first report in Wuhan, China. Over 965,500 have died following infection, while more than 21.5 million have reportedly recovered, as of Tuesday, according to JHU.
The graphics below, provided by Statista, illustrate the spread of COVID-19 cases in counties across the globe.
The graphic below, also provided by Statista, illustrates U.S. states with the most COVID-19 cases.
The below graphic, also provided by Statista, illustrates the percentage of Americans who do or don't want COVID-19 restrictions to be relaxed in the country.
About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more