President Donald Trump denied on Tuesday night that he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, even after telling Bob Woodyard during a recorded interview that he knew the virus was more deadly than the flu.

"Well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action," Trump said during a televised town hall hosted by ABC News on Tuesday night.

Trump, once again, said the virus would "disappear" with or without a vaccine through what he called a "herd mentality," referencing herd immunity. .

As of Tuesday night, the state has 668,746 infections and 14,343 deaths.

📈 Today's numbers: Alabama, North Dakota and Wisconsin set records for new cases, while Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota and Tennessee set records for number of deaths reported, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Tuesday.

India's coronavirus confirmed cases crossed 5 million on Wednesday, still soaring and testing the country's feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages.

India's total coronavirus caseload is closing in on the United States' highest tally of more than 6.6 million cases and expected to surpass it within weeks.

Eight people in Indonesia who refused to wear masks in public were ordered by a local official to dig graves for COVID-19 victims.

As Indonesia faces an uptick of COVID-19 cases, leaders in Cerme, a district located in East Java, established stricter enforcement of social distancing and mask-wearing policies.

A Texas woman who received nearly $2 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was arrested Tuesday by federal authorities on fraud allegations.

"Well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action," Trump said in response to a question about an interview with journalist Bob Woodward in which he said he knew the coronavirus was more deadly and contagious than the flu but continued to compare the two. .

Pfizer, one of the frontrunners in the quest for a COVID-19 vaccine, said its candidate vaccine is looking safe, and the company expects to have data next month on how well it is protecting people against the coronavirus. .

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that he is intentionally revealing more information about the COVID-19 candidate vaccine than he would about any other vaccine under development because he wants the process to be open and transparent.

Tuesday, Bourla said the expansion took place because the vaccine appeared to be extremely safe, and the trial could be expanded without delaying the timeline for completion.

During Donald Trump’s first three years in office, 2.3 million people became uninsured, according to a Capital & Main analysis of U.S

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive job losses in a country where 55% of health care coverage is tied to employment. One study estimated that 5.4 million American workers lost their health insurance between February and May 2020