Former US president Donald Trump on Thursday said that India has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic insisting that China should pay USD 10 trillion to the US for allegedly being responsible for the global spread of coronavirus.

Trump said that in fact, China should pay more as compensation to the world, but this is what they have the capacity to pay.

In response to a question in an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “The number (compensation) is much higher than that. But there's only so much they can pay. And that's to us (United States). The number is bigger throughout the world. Look, countries have been destroyed over what they did, and whether by accident or not. And I would hope that it was an accident. I hope that it was through incompetence or an accident.”

“But, when you look, whether it was by an accident, whether it was -- whatever it is, this -- you look at these countries. They will never, ever be the same. Our country was hit so hard. But other countries were hit much harder,” he said as he went on to cite India, which is currently experiencing the worst ever public health crisis.

“Look at what's going on in India now. You know, they used to say, look how well India was doing, because they were always looking for an excuse -- look how well India is doing. The fact that India has just been devastated now, and virtually, every country has been devastated,” Trump said.

“I think that's one of the reasons that I feel it's very important to find out where it came from, how it came. I think I know. I mean, I feel certain about it. But certainly, China should help. Right now, their economy and our economy are the two economies that are coming back the fastest,” he argued.

Coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan in December 2019 by Chinese health officials.

Trump has been alleging that the coronavirus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in central China's Wuhan city.

The total number of coronavirus cases globally are 177,136,569 and 3,835,123 people have died from it, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker on Thursday.

In April, India was struggling with a second wave of the pandemic and hospitals were reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds. However, the country is now witnessing a downswing in the second wave of the coronavirus.

(PTI inputs)