Covid-hit Trump team slams 'failure' Biden

Donald Trump's re-election campaign on Sunday focussed on the US president's Democratic rival Joe Biden's intermittent rallies and accused him of "47 years of failure".

Trump has maintained a furious pace of campaigning for days -- including stops Sunday in New Hampshire and Maine -- while Biden has set a more cautious course, speaking less frequently and to smaller, socially distanced groups.

The stark contrast can be attributed to how the United States has been engulfed by a surge in Covid-19 cases nine days before the November 3 vote.

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Even the list of the administration staff to have caught the virus burgeoned to include Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, as well as a number of other aides.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh slammed Biden for his light campaign schedule. He said the Democratic challenger was "feeling the heat" and "took five out of six days off" before the last presidential debate on Thursday.

"President Trump has accomplished more in 47 months than Joe Biden has in 47 years of failure," Murtaugh added.

Biden planned on Sunday only to participate in a virtual "I will vote" concert. His deputy campaign manager defended him for this, telling NBC's "Meet the Press," that "we are campaigning incredibly hard."

"The difference between what we're doing and what Donald Trump is doing is that we're doing it safely," Kate Bedingfield said.

On Saturday, Biden and former president Barack Obama accused Trump of massively mishandling the pandemic.

"Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself," Obama said, referring to Trump's hospitalisation for Covid-19 three weeks ago.

But the president has projected confidence despite trailing in national polls.

Trump told supporters in North Carolina, "This election is a choice between a Trump super-recovery and a Biden depression."

Trump held three campaign rallies on Saturday even as he complained that the media was fixated on the problem.

Biden, in response, said, "Trump himself should be more fixated on the problem."

"We're not learning how to live with it. You're asking us to learn how to die with it," he added.

Ahead of the presidential election, both campaigns are scrambling to make their closing arguments and win over the few still undecided voters.

Biden has maintained a stable lead of around 10 points in national polls, and narrower leads in battleground states like Florida that typically decide the winner of US presidential elections.

By far, more than 57 million Americans have cast early votes.

Nearly 225,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19 -- the world's highest toll.