Trump announces news conference on coronavirus crisis

US President Donald Trump announced a news conference from the White House on the coronavirus epidemic Wednesday, with experts warning they expect it to spread in the United States.

“I will be having a News Conference at the White House, on this subject, today at 6:00 P.M.” Trump tweeted, adding that officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would attend.

Officials have urged Americans to develop plans to avoid mass gatherings amid dire warnings that countries are not ready to contain an outbreak that has infected 80,000 people, mostly in China.

Critics, including lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, have expressed growing alarm over the Trump administration’s response to the crisis.

Wall Street stocks suffered a second straight rout Tuesday, with losses picking up after US health officials warned the coronavirus was likely to hit the world’s biggest economy.

Democrats have pointed to a White House request to Congress for deep cuts to the budgets of science and health agencies such as the  National Institutes of Health.

Trump has not appointed a point person or task force on the crisis, while the global health security expert position on the National Security Council has been left vacant for more than a year.

The president told reporters in India experts were “very close to a vaccine,” forcing White House officials to clarify later that he was talking about Ebola, not the novel coronavirus.

He also understated the number of infections in the US.

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow also came in for criticism after telling CNBC the virus was “contained” — on the same day the CDC warned that a US outbreak was inevitable.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator John Kennedy grew frustrated with acting Department of Homeland Security head Chad Wolf, who could not answer questions on Tuesday about the mortality rate.

Trump has insisted, however, that his administration is “doing a GREAT job” managing the crisis, blaming the media for trying to make him look bad in a tweet in which he spelt the name of the virus incorrectly.

“Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible,” he tweeted, using a derogatory name for cable news network MSNBC that suggests it is connected to the Democratic National Committee.

“Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!”

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© Agence France-Presse

/AFP