US president Donald Trump hit out at leading virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Monday as he claimed that people were "tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots".

In a call with campaign staff, which was also open to journalists, Mr Trump said that he believed people were tired of coronavirus and just wanted to be left alone. He also claimed that Dr Fauci was a "disaster"- "if we listened to [Fauci] we'd have 700,000, 800,000 deaths".

"Every time he goes on television there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him," he said.

Mr Trump's attack on Dr Fauci, one of the nation's top health officials who is leading America's response to the pandemic, comes as the number of Americans infected by Covid-19 rose past eight million over the weekend. States across the midwest are seeing a surge in cases. Iowa's positive test rate is now at 51 per cent, while Wisconsin set its biggest single-day record of cases on Friday.