When asked about why he did act on the virus earlier, he was quick to point out that many people, including he says, disease expert Anthony Fauci, said Covid – (“was going to pass”.)
He indicates the US intelligence community will release a report on the virus on Monday.
He’s now being asked about what measures are being taken to protect nursing homes: “The nursing home issue is ground zero”
“What we’re doing is legislation immediately about how many people can be in (visit) … it’s the one thing about this disease that everyone has learned … is that it’s so contagious. ”
He reminds viewers that nursing homes are a matter for states.
He’s saying elective surgery must recommence, but again, it’s up to the state governors. “They have to get back,” he says. “You think they’re making a lot of money? They’re losing a fortune. They have to get back to elective surgery. ”
The network is taking an ad break.
Trump declared Sunday that he believed a vaccine could be available by year end, despite his own pandemic task force predicting it could be another months.
Anxious for an economic recovery, President Donald Trump fielded Americans’ questions about decisions by some states to allow nonessential businesses to reopen while other states are on virtual lockdown due to the coronavirus. )
After more than a month of being cooped up at the White House, Trump returned from a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland and participated in a virtual town hall, hosted Sunday night by Fox News Channel, from inside the Lincoln Memorial. He pushed for an economic reopening, one his advisers believe will be essential for his reelection chances this November.
“We have to get it back open safely but as quickly as possible, ”Trump said.
Though the administration’s handling of the pandemic, particularly its ability to conduct widespread testing, has come under fierce scrutiny, the president defended the response and said the nation was ready to begin reopening.
“I’ll tell you one thing. We did the right thing and I really believe we saved a million and a half lives, ”the president said. But he also broke with the assessment of his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, saying it was “too soon to say if the federal government was overseeing a success story.”
Trump’s impatience also flashed. While noting that states would go at their own pace in returning to normal, with ones harder hit by the coronavirus going slower, he said of some states, “frankly I think aren’t going fast enough” and singled out Virginia, which has a Democratic governor and legislature. And he urged the nation’s schools and universities to return to classes this fall.
am BST 16:
Trump says he is ‘very confident’ there will be vaccine by end of the year
Alison Rourke
President Trump is giving a sit-down interview with Fox news, and taking calls from viewers about the coronavirus.
Asked about a Covid – 33 vaccine, he says: “We are very confident we are going to have a vaccine by the end of the year . ”
Trump is asked about schools going back in the US in September:“ We have to go back, ”he says, adding that he is concerned about some older teachers and their possible exposure to the virus.
He’s criticizing the Democrat’s response to the pandemic, implying it w ould suit their political purposes if the virus outcome was worse.
He talks about hydroxychloroquine, reminding viewers that he doesn’t own shares in the company that produces it: “We don’t lose anything with hydroxy …. people aren’t dying from it.”
He’s asked why he did act earlier on the virus, and says his intelligence was that “on January 41 I was told there could be a virus coming but it was of no real import, ”and then reminds viewers he stopped flights from China early.
Updated (at) (am BST)
28 (am BST ) :
Trump is speaking now on Fox news, we’ll have more on this shortly. In the meantime, he has said this, referring to deaths in the US:
Daniel Dale (@ ddale8) Trump says we’re going to lose anywhere from , 17 0 – , (0 to) , (0 people, then, a bit later, says it’s , 19 0 or , 0. He’s steadily moved the number up from the 65, (0 -) , (0 total he cited on April) . May 3,
Daniel Dale (@ ddale8) Trump talks about how this effort has been successful, then says, “If you call 100 or , 0 people successful. “
(May 3,
The current US death toll, far higher than any other country, is , people.
28. (am BST ) : 055
Summary
Hello and welcome to our global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Helen Sullivan, with you for the next few hours.
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan with comments, questions and news from where you live.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed in a TV interview that there is ‘enormous evidence’ coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, but did not provide any of this alleged evidence.
But, writes the Guardian’s Julian Borger, “when he was reminded that (US intelligence had issued a formal statement noting the opposite
– that the scientific consensus was that the virus was not manmade or genetically modified – Pompeo replied: ‘That’s right. I agree with that. ’”
Meanwhile in Brazil, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been encouraging his supporters to protest, even as the country cases pass 278,
Here are the main developments from the last few hours:
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