Donald Trump says US has 'passed the peak' of coronavirus crisis – Metro.co.uk, Metro.co.uk

Donald Trump announced that the United States has ‘passed the peak’ of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Trump’s statement comes as the US has confirmed over 347, (new cases of coronavirus and at least 2, new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll past 2, 2019 and total case count above , 06.

‘While we must remain vigilant it is clear that our aggresive strategy is working, very strongly working I might add,’ Trump said at his coronavirus briefing Wednesday.

‘New cases are declining throughout the New York metropolitan area. Cases in the Detroit and Denver metro areas are flat. Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia are showing great signs of progress and new cases in Houston and New Orleans are declining. ’

‘The battle continues but the data suggests that nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases. Hopefully, that will continue and we will continue making great progress, ’Trump said.

The president went on to say that the he hopes to open up the country soon amid the ‘great progress.’

‘These encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country… We’ll be talking about that tomorrow,’ Trump said.

‘Some states may actually be able to open up before the deadline of May first,’ the president added later.

Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, took to the podium after Trump to elaborate on the hopeful coronavirus case numbers the country has observed this week.

‘Over the last five to six days, we’ve seen declines in cases across the country and this has been very reassuring for us,’ Birx said.

‘At the same time, we know mortalities and the fatalities that we’re facing across the United States continue… These cases continue to decline because of the strong work of the American people,’ she continued.

Trump’s hopeful message on Wednesday comes as he is facing condemnation from health officials and Democrats for freezing funding to the World Health Organization, which he announced Tuesday after claiming that the organization did not verify coronavirus reports from China.

Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told ‘CBS This Morning’ that questions about the outbreak and response should wait until ’after we get through this.’

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised to ‘swiftly challenge’ Trump’s move and called it ‘dangerous’ and ‘illegal.’

‘As he has since Day One, the president is ignoring global health experts, disregarding science and undermining the heroes fighting on the front line, at great risk to the lives and livelihoods of Americans and people around the world,’ Pelosi said.

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