Biden slams Trump for not telling truth on Covid risks: 'The American people don't panic, he panicked'

With only 10 days to go until the US election, the former vice president rallies his supporters in their cars in Pennsylvania

Joe Biden has attacked Donald Trump for lying to the American people about the coronavirus pandemic, telling them “he panicked”.

Mr Biden, speaking in Pennsylvania — the state where he was born, and lived until the age of 10 — told the crowd how the president admitted to Bob Woodward, the journalist and author, that he knew how serious the risks were, but did not tell the US public to “avoid panic”.

The 77-year-old rounded on Mr Trump for his attitude.

“He tried to claim he didn’t want to panic people," he said.

“The American people don’t panic — he panicked. And he still doesn’t have a plan. He just doubles down on his Park Avenue point of view.”

The crowd, sitting in their cars to listen safely, tooted their car horns in appreciation.

Mr Biden, at the drive-by rally in the Philadelphia suburb of Bristol, told the crowd in around 100 cars: “I don't like the idea of all this distance, but it’s necessary.”

He added: "We don’t want to become superspreaders.”

With the United States recording more than 85,000 new cases of the virus across the country on Friday, shattering an earlier single-day record and sparking fresh fears about the months ahead, the Democrat candidate tore into Mr Trump.

He accused the president of fumbling the most basic responses to the pandemic, and of failing to protect the people.

He said Mr Trump had repeatedly misled the country, and cheated those who worked to construct it - noting that, while the White House was downplaying the pandemic in public, in private they were warning top financiers from the Hoover Institute that it was of genuine concern.

“Folks, give me a break,” said Mr Biden. "This guy is not on the level. He thinks Wall Street built the country. 

"But you and I know who built this country – workers and unions.

“We can do so much better than this.”

He promised funding to open schools and businesses safely, and to bring Republicans and Democrats together to work for economic relief.

“I’ll shut down the virus, and not the economy - we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said.