AP FACT CHECK: Trump's perfect China 'ban,' death toll myths

WASHINGTON (AP) — Truth often takes a beating when President Donald Trump talks about his administration’s response to the coronavirus and the subsequent death toll in the U.S. This past week was no exception.

Over the weekend, the president claimed strong marks for himself for the handling of the pandemic after imposing a “very early ban of people from China." It actually wasn’t a total ban and had plenty of gaps in containment. One of the government's top health officials has described the China restrictions as too little, too late.

Trump also asserted that the United States is on par with Germany in keeping down COVID-19 deaths, which is not the case in mortality reports. And he's brushed off projections that deaths in his country will double from earlier forecasts, misrepresenting how the numbers were calculated.

These distortions emerged over the past week alongside his relentless bragging about the U.S. testing system, which failed in the crucial early weeks and remains globally subpar.

A look at Trump's remarks, also covering his former national security adviser Michael Flynn:

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

TRUMP: “We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA.” — tweet Sunday.

THE FACTS: This is one of Trump’s favorite exaggerations, asserting that travel restrictions he imposed on China in late January had averted much of the virus' entry into the U.S.

In fact, Trump didn’t “ban” all the people infected with coronavirus from entering the U.S. from China. There were many gaps in containment and initial delays in testing, leading to the U.S. rising to No. 1 globally in the number of people infected by COVID-19.

His order temporarily...