Defiant Trump defends virus record in first post-Covid rally

President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Orlando Sanford International Airport on Monday (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President Donald Trump turned his first campaign rally since contracting Covid-19 into an emphatic defence of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking he felt healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters “a big fat kiss”.

There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was inconsistent among the thousands who attended Mr Trump’s return to Florida.