President Donald Trump acknowledged a "big flare-up" of COVID-19 cases, as the US continued to witness a massive surge in the infections, and resumed the daily Coronavirus press briefings from Tuesday. He also finally came out in favour of face masks as a tool against the novel Coronavirus. He tweeted, "There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favourite President!"

His once-daily turns behind the White House briefing room podium largely ended in late April after the president's off-the-cuff suggestion that injecting toxic disinfectant could help treat the novel Coronavirus. "I think it's a great way to get information out to the public," Trump said on Monday.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US on Monday registered 63,201 new cases, taking the total count to 3,761,362, and with 498 new fatalities, the death toll jumped to140,157.

Meanwhile, divisions between the White House and Senate Republicans and differences with Democrats posed fresh challenges for a new federal aid package. Democrats have passed a $3 trillion package in the House. The Republican plan only $1 trillion.

According to a Washington Post report, the Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing.

According to a person involved in the talks, while Senate Republicans were seeking to allocate $25 billion for states to conduct testing and contact tracing, certain administration officials want to zero out testing and tracing money.

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