US President Trump on Saturday quipped that he encouraged administration officials to slow down testing capacity for the coronavirus because the increased identification of cases made the country look bad.

Speaking during a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump said, "Testing is a double-edged sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else. Germany’s done a lot. South Korea’s done a lot.

"Here’s the bad part," he continued. "When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down, please!’”

While the remark appeared to be in jest, he has previously made similar remarks indicating he believes widespread testing can be problematic because it leads to higher case counts.

There are more than 2.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins, and roughly 120,000 people in the country have died from the disease.

While former epicenters New York and New Jersey have succeeded in controlling their outbreaks, the virus is now increasing in 20 states.

On Thursday, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “We are very close to a vaccine, close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics."

"But even without that", Trump added, "I don't like to talk about that because it's fading away. It's going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that's going to happen."