House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she has ‘no confidence’ in Dr Deborah Birx - a scientist on the White House’s coronavirus taskforce.

Pelosi made the comments to ABC’s This Week: “I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no."

This comes after Politico reported last week Pelosi had criticised Birx to Republicans when negotiating a new coronavirus relief package.

She allegedly said: “Deborah Birx is the worst. Wow, what horrible hands you’re in.”

Birx has been alongside President Trump for most of his briefings where he has been accused of spreading misinformation, like using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid.

She appeared on US television this weekend to speak about the ‘new phase’ of Covid-19 in the country. 

Speaking about new infections in rural and urban America, she said: “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread."

The US has had the most cases of the disease worldwide - 4.6 million recorded to date - and have had just over 154,000 deaths.