WITH just one full week of campaigning left before the US presidential election on November 3, it is now clear that Democrat Party candidate Joe Biden has succeeded in keeping President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus to the fore of his nation’s attention.

Polls show that Biden remains in the lead nationally and in key states due to his tactics on Covid-19.

Biden was assisted yesterday by Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading American scientist in the fight against Covid-19, who told Andrew Marr on the BBC that the President was not wholly correct in saying there would be a vaccine by the end of the year.

Accused by Trump of being an idiot and disastrous because he won’t play along with Trump’s anti-science stance, Fauci told Marr: “We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December.”

“When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population, so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak, that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year.”

Famous for promoting the wearing of masks which Trump detests, Fauci also said that is “very important” for politicians and public figures to follow the science.

He added: “You can positively or negatively influence behaviour. It would really be a shame if we have a safe and effective vaccine but a substantial portion of the people don’t want to take the vaccine because they don’t trust authority.”

Former Vice-President Biden kept up the attack on Trump whose chief of staff Mark Meadows yesterday admitted the US “is not going to control” the pandemic.

Biden said: “This wasn’t a slip by Meadows, it was a candid acknowledgement of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasn’t, and it won’t.

“It’s sadly no surprise then that this virus continues to rage unchecked across the country and even in the White House itself. “ He said that research had shown masking could save 100,000 lives and added: “It’s long past time for President Trump and his administration to listen to the scientists, take action, and finally take seriously the threat of a virus that’s costing thousands of lives each week, shuttering our schools, and forcing millions of Americans out of work.”

In this most bizarre of all election campaigns, there is still some light relief to be had from the wacky conspiracy theories that abound on the internet and even some supposedly serious newspaper websites.

The latest is an old chestnut given new life by a photo taken at considerable distance of First Lady Melania Trump.

Her broad smile instead of her normal grin is proof, some say, that she is using a body double to stand in for her on Donald Trump’s travels.

Perhaps the First Lady should have worn a mask ...