US Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris hit out at US President Donald Trump and said that he has called the pandemic a hoax and minimized the seriousness of it.

"From the beginning of this pandemic, he has called it a hoax. He has muzzled the public health experts, he has minimized the seriousness of it. If he had listened to the scientists and the experts, he would have understood the gravity of it," Harris told CNN.

"We have a President of the United States who made this a partisan issue. The virus could care less who you voted for in the last election or who you plan to vote for in the next election," the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate said.

Yesterday, Kamala Harris had said that she would not take President Donald Trump's word on covid vaccine's safety and efficacy.

"I would not trust Donald Trump and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of (a vaccine)," Harris told CNN.

A shot against the virus that has killed over 188,000 in the US and hobbled the world's largest economy has become another flashpoint ahead of the November 3 vote.

As per the latest update, the US is the worst affected country by the COVID-19 pandemic which has 6,270,950 cases and 188,810 deaths due to the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Source: Agencies