Coronavirus updates: Trump claims vaccine coming ‘long before the end of the year’ – ABC News

July 5, 2020, 8:59 AM

4 min read

A novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 530,000 people worldwide.

More than 11.2 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations' outbreaks.

The United States is the worst-affected country in the world, with more than 2.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 129,676 deaths.

President Donald Trump greets visitors as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House during a "Salute to America" event, Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Washington.

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Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.

President Donald Trump made remarks on Saturday evening at the second annual Salute to America July 4th event held in Washington, D.C. and claimed that a therapeutic and/or vaccine will be around long before the end of the year.

"I want to send our thanks to the scientists and researchers around the country and even around the world who are at the forefront of our historic effort to rapidly develop and deliver life-saving treatments and ultimately a vaccine.," Trump said. "We are unleashing our nation's scientific brilliance and we'll likely have a therapeutic and/or vaccine solution long before the end of the year."

Trump also said that his administration has tested more than 40 million people around the country.

"We got hit by the virus that came from China," Trump began. "And we've made a lot of progress, our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area and rears back its ugly face in another area. But we've learned a lot. We've learned how to put out the flame. We've made ventilators where there were none, by tens of thousands, to the point that we have far more than we need, and we're now distributing them to many foreign countries as a gesture of good will. Likewise, testing -- there were no tests for a new virus. But now we have tested almost 40 million people."

Said Trump: "By so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless, results that no other country can show because no other country is testing that we have, not in terms of the numbers or in terms of the quality. And now just like everything else, we have become the manufacturer and record for ventilators. We have the most finest testing anywhere in the world and we are producing gown and masks and surgical equipment in our country we're heretofore it was almost exclusively land in lands in China ironically where this virus and others came from. China secrecy deceptions and coverup allowed it to spread all over the world. 189 countries, and China must be held fully accountable."

The Los Angeles Police Department has announced the first of its employees to die from coronavirus.

Senior detention officer Erica McAdoo died on Friday, according to the department.

There are currently 287 department employees to either test positive or be exposed to someone who tested positive and are in isolation.

While the LAPD, the third-largest police force in the U.S., has only seen one death, the largest in the country, the New York Police Department, has lost 46 employees to COVID.

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Coronavirus updates: Trump claims vaccine coming 'long before the end of the year' - ABC News