Spain opens border to tourists; Trump wants less testing

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain reopened its borders to European tourists Sunday in a bid to kickstart its economy while Brazil and South Africa struggled with rising coronavirus infections. At a campaign rally, President Donald Trump said he told the U.S. government to reduce testing for the virus, apparently to avoid unflattering statistics ahead of the U.S. election in November.

The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the global spread of the virus is accelerating after a daily high of 150,000 new cases was reported last week.

The new coronavirus has infected over 8.8 million people and killed more than 464,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The true number is thought to be much higher because many cases go untested.

At a campaign rally in Tulsa Oklahoma, Trump said Saturday he has told his administration to slow down virus testing. He said the United States has tested 25 million people, but the “bad part” is that it found more cases.

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’″

The infections would still exist, of course, but Trump’s campaign would not have to be embarrassed by how many cases and deaths were actually occurring in the United States, which tops the world in both categories by far. Health experts say not testing for coronavirus should increase the overall number of cases because infected people won’t know that they should quarantine themselves.

The outbreak has infected 2.2 million people in the United States, killing nearly 120,000, according to Johns Hopkins.

The campaign of Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic rival in November’s presidential...