New York, Sep 30: US President Donald Trump has said that India does not give a "straight count" on the Covid-19 deaths.

During the presidential debate on Tuesday night between him and Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, they both sparred on the extent of the deaths caused by the pandemic.

Biden said that the 200,000 people who died of the coronavirus were 20 per cent of the global death toll of 1 million while the US population is only 4 per cent of the world. US Presidential Debate 2020 Highlights: From Calling Donald Trump a 'Clown', 'Liar' And Asking Him to 'Shut Up' to Mocking Joe Biden For Wearing Face Masks, Here's How the Face-off Went.

Trump shot back, "When you talk about numbers you know how many people died in China? You know how many people died in Russia? You don't know how many people died in India. They don't give you a straight count."

Trump said that the pandemic was China's fault, but Biden tried to deflect China's role wanting to pin the blame for its ravages on Trump.

The first debate was held in Cleveland was about domestic issues and there were no international questions on the agenda set out Chris Wallace of Fox News, who was the moderator for the debate. The mention of India and the two other countries brought a passing reference to foreign countries.

Earlier in his news conferences, he has mentioned India's record of conducting Covid-19 tests as the second-best in the world and only behind the US.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 30, 2020 10:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).