Dr. Fauci contradicts Trump's boasts about lower COVID death rate -- and calls it a 'false narrative'

Even as documented cases of COVID-19 have surged in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has so far taken comfort from the fact that the number of deaths related to the disease have so far not surged with it.

In a Tuesday morning tweet, for example, Trump falsely claimed that "we have the lowest Mortality Rate in the World," while also attacking the news media for not reporting on the declining average number of daily deaths from COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is now warning that no one should take comfort from the surge in coronavirus cases.

"It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death," Fauci said during a press event with Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), according to CBS News reporter Alan He. "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don't get yourself into false complacency."