AFP. Washington - The Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, on Sunday accused Donald Trump of surrendering to Covid-19, as a new outbreak of the virus affects the president's team, cases increase throughout the country and his head of campaign made an uncomfortable recognition.

Nine days before the vote, with more than 225,000 deaths from coronavirus in the United States, Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, acknowledged on Sunday that the White House will not "control the pandemic."

“This is what we are going to do. We are not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we can have vaccines, ”Meadows told CNN on Sunday.

Biden immediately took advantage of Meadows' comment and again criticized the government for its handling of the pandemic, which on Saturday reached a new record for new cases with almost 90,000 infected in one day.

"It was not a Meadows error," Biden said in a statement. "It was an honest statement of President Trump's strategy since the beginning of the crisis: waving the white flag of defeat and hoping that if ignored, the virus will go away," he added.

"They are admitting defeat," his running mate Kamala Harris also said during a campaign stop in Michigan. "I've been saying that, and Joe Biden has been saying it from the beginning."

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's team leader, tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend, the latest to include his name on the list of Trump administration collaborators, including the president, who are have been infected with the coronavirus.

"The vice president is going to continue his travel schedule," Republican campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News.

"He takes this very seriously ... the people on his team are in quarantine, and he relies on the best advice from the White House medical unit."

Trump's campaign team tried on Sunday to evade the new coronavirus outbreak in their group by targeting Joe Biden, a senator for decades and former vice president of Barack Obama, accusing him of "47 years of failure" in Washington.

Murtaugh criticized Biden for his relaxed campaign schedule, saying the Democratic candidate was "feeling the pressure" and "took five or six days off" before the last presidential debate, held on Thursday.

Trump, 74, has maintained a fast pace for days, including stops scheduled for Sunday in New Hampshire and Maine, while Biden has set a more cautious course, speaking less frequently and in smaller groups.