Donald Trump has claimed that China could have stopped the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a White House press briefing on Thursday, the US president boasted that his administration had rescued the US economy from “a horrible event” that started in China.

Mr Trump said the country “could’ve stopped” the pandemic, adding: “They know it and I know it.”

It follows his sharp criticism of China throughout the global crisis after Covid-19 first broke out in the city of Wuhan late last year before spreading around the world.