WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night acknowledged that coronavirus cases are rising in "certain areas" of the Midwest, a rare admission during the final week in the battle for the White House.
"Certain areas that are heated up right now," Mr Trump said at a rally in Omaha, Nebraska. "They'll go down. They'll go down very quickly. They'll be down within two weeks, they're figuring."
He has routinely downplayed the virus while making his closing argument to voters, who have rated his pandemic response poorly, according to opinion polls. Throughout his presidency, he has promised results for various initiatives in two weeks.
The President said again on Tuesday that the country is "turning that corner" and pledged the virus would go away with or without a vaccine. He accused the news media of covering the pandemic to damage him politically and said the day after Election Day, "you won't be hearing that much" about it.
Coronavirus cases are soaring in states across the United States and hospitalisations are up at least 10 per cent in the past week in 32 states.
Outbreaks in Midwestern states have driven the most recent surge. As a region, the Midwest's seven-day average of cases has fallen slightly, but is still near a record.
Earlier in the day, Mr Trump also held an open-air rally in Michigan, followed by events in Wisconsin.
Michigan and Wisconsin are Midwestern battlegrounds that he won by razor-thin margins four years ago, but Mr Trump insisted "we're leading almost everywhere", thanks to his frantic campaign schedule.
"I've got to say I'm working my a** off here!" he boomed in Lansing, Michigan, eliciting a huge cheer.
The President said his pandemic policies and economic chops would serve the nation better than his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
"This election is a choice between a Trump super-recovery or Biden depression," he said.
But with Covid-19 cases still rising and no agreement yet on a pandemic rescue package in Congress, US stocks mostly slid on Tuesday for a third straight session.
Meanwhile, First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday hit the campaign trail for her husband for the first time on her own this year.
"Donald is a fighter. He loves this country and he fights for you every single day," Mrs Trump, 50, told the President's supporters in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.
She offered compassion to families of those who have succumbed to Covid-19 so far this year.
"I know there are many people who have lost loved ones or know people who have been forever impacted by this silent enemy," she said. "My family's thoughts and prayers are with all of you... We will triumph over this virus."
In her speech, she also offered a few comments about her husband's rabid Twitter use.
"For the first time in history, the citizens of this country get to hear directly and instantly from their president every single day through social media," she said.
"I do not always agree with the way he says things," she added, to some laughter from the crowd.
"But it is important to him that he speaks directly to the people he serves."
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
