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Coronavirus: Trump says US response 'most aggressive in modern history' | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
US confirms first death in Washington state and strengthens travel advice, raising Iran and Italy to a level three. Follow live news | |
Now to questions: | |
Trump is asked about his remarks in Charleston about the outbreak being a hoax. | |
“Hoax referred to the action they [Democrats] tried to take to try to pin this on somebody,” he says, “certainly not” to the coronavirus. | |
Was Dr Anthony Fauci – standing next to president – ever muzzled? | |
“That’s a very dishonest question,” says Trump, adding: “He was never muzzled.” | |
Fauci doesn’t seem keen to speak but he clarifies that “has never been muzzled ever”. He says he merely stood down on some media appearances to clarify what he should be doing and when. | |
Will the southern border be closed? | |
Trump says it’s being looked at – the new cases overnight were reported at the other end of the country, in the north west. | |
Should Americans change their daily routine? | |
Trump and officials say no. | |
A South Korean question about US troops there: “We care very much for the troops,” Trump says. It’s all working out fine, he says. | |
Back to the word “hoax”. Could it make people think he is saying the virus was a hoax even if he wasn’t? | |
He says no, then spins to talking about how well his administration has performed on coronavirus so far. | |
Alex Azar is also expressing sympathy for the family of the Washington state patient who died, referring to her as a woman. He repeats official guidance about the risks from coronavirus and says the government wants to follow a “basic containment strategy” in terms of travel. | |
Next, Dr Anthony Fauci who does not refer to the gender of the person who died. And in fact, Governor Inslee’s statement has been changed to remove reference to the gender of the person who died too. | |
Pence is up now. He expresses condolences to the family of the “woman in Washington state who has lost her life to the coronavirus”. | |
Here’s Governor Inslee’s statement saying the person who died was a man: | |
Pence commends Trump for his guidance of course and then announces: | |
Additional travel restrictions on Iran | |
An increase to the highest level for the advisory that Americans should not travel to specific regions in Italy and South Korea | |
The state department will co-ordinate screening in those countries of individuals coming to America | |
Pence then commends the members of his task force for their work and says he has spoken to congressional leaders about a supplementary funding bill for federal agencies and for state and local authorities. | |
“The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask,” Pence says. But 3M will produce 30m more masks a month nonetheless and availability will be increased. | |
Risks remain low, Pence says, but Trump’s actions “give evidence to the fact that at his direction we’re going to continue to lead in this effort”. | |
Trump says his administration has taken “the most aggressive action in modern history to confront this disease” and says moving quickly has put the US ahead of the game. China seems to be making tremendous progress, he says, and “their numbers are way down”. | |
Trump is repeating his “most aggressive” claim for the US response, in comparison to all other countries. On Monday, he says, he’ll be meeting pharmaceutical companies to discuss a developing a vaccine “very rapidly”. | |
“Tremendous amounts of supplies are already on hand,” he says – there have been problems with federal testing kits. | |
Pence led a task force meeting this morning, Trump says, and they came up with some “pretty strict edicts”. | |
“Our country is prepared for any circumstance, we hope it’s not going to be a major circumstance,” he says, asking the media and politicians not to do “anything to incite panic at all”. | |
Here’s what Trump said at a rally last night: | |
Trump is addressing the press flanked by Mike Pence, the vice-president he put in charge of coronavirus response efforts to not-universal acclaim, and federal health officials. It’s a long preamble on Afghanistan, in which Trump said he would personally meet Taliban leaders soon and said the US could yet go back in “with a force like nobody’s ever seen”. So much for that. | |
The coronavirus outbreak is very important to many people, Trump says, paying tribute to the officials with him and others in a more than usually husky voice. A lot of progress has been made, he says, and he will update us here. Remember, the first US death was confirmed just before he came out. | |
There are 22 patients in the US – the president says one person died overnight and it was a woman in her late 50s. Washington state governor Jay Inslee just announced it was a man. | |
Trump begins by congratulating the “incredible people” who have worked so long on “our longest war” in Afghanistan for what he says is 20 years. It’s actually a little more than 18 since the invasion in 2001 but regardless an agreement was signed in Doha this morning with the Taliban, committing the US to troop withdrawals if the Taliban keeps the peace. | |
We’ll concentrate on the coronavirus news here of course, so here’s our report on the Afghanistan deal: | |
Here in the US the first coronavirus death has been confirmed, in Washington state out on the west coast. I’m in New York City but the president is at the White House in Washington DC and he is about to give a news conference. We’ll blog it live. Here he comes. | |
US confirms first death from the coronavirus in King county in Washington state. | |
Reuters reports that the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Italy has climbed above 1,000, according to an official who said the number of deaths had surged to 29. | Reuters reports that the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Italy has climbed above 1,000, according to an official who said the number of deaths had surged to 29. |
This is from the Associated Press. | This is from the Associated Press. |
Iraq has detected five new cases of the coronavirus, four in Baghdad and one in the central Babel province, the country’s health ministry has announced, taking the total number of cases in the country to 13. | Iraq has detected five new cases of the coronavirus, four in Baghdad and one in the central Babel province, the country’s health ministry has announced, taking the total number of cases in the country to 13. |
The patients were placed in quarantine, days after Iraq banned public gatherings and barred entry by travellers from Kuwait and Bahrain. It has now prohibited travel to or from a total of nine countries. | The patients were placed in quarantine, days after Iraq banned public gatherings and barred entry by travellers from Kuwait and Bahrain. It has now prohibited travel to or from a total of nine countries. |
Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and annually receives millions of Iranian pilgrims. An Iraqi family of four, the first known Iraqis to have caught the disease, who returned from Iran tested positive for the coronavirus in Kirkuk province on Tuesday. | Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and annually receives millions of Iranian pilgrims. An Iraqi family of four, the first known Iraqis to have caught the disease, who returned from Iran tested positive for the coronavirus in Kirkuk province on Tuesday. |
However, it was not immediately clear if the five new cases announced on Saturday were people who had recently been in Iran. | However, it was not immediately clear if the five new cases announced on Saturday were people who had recently been in Iran. |