Coronavirus: Donald Trump says China didn’t do enough to contain virus when it emerged in Wuhan
Donald Trump’s anger towards Beijing has increased almost daily as the massive cost in lives and to the economy widens.
Donald Trump has launched his strongest attack yet on China over the coronavirus, saying the world was “paying a big price’’ for Beijing’s role in the now global pandemic.
The President also scrapped this year’s G7 summit at Camp David in June due to the coronavirus crisis and will instead hold the event by videoconference.
The summit would take place remotely “in order for each country to focus all of its resources on responding to the health and economic challenges of COVID-19,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said on Friday.
Mr Trump’s anger towards China, where the virus began, has increased almost daily as the massive cost in lives and to the economy becomes more apparent, both in the US and around the world. His comments came as the number of coronavirus cases soared past 14,000 in the US, with 205 deaths.
Mr Trump said China did not do enough to contain the virus when it first emerged in Wuhan in late December and then failed to warn the world about its seriousness and contagiousness.
“It would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier. It could have been contained to that one area in China where it started. And certainly the world is paying a big price for what they did,” Mr Trump said at the White House.
The president has labelled coronavirus as a “Chinese virus’’ and has defended the description, saying it is accurate because the virus originated in China.
Mr Trump was angered by Chinese propaganda which claimed the virus was caused by US soldiers. Beijing was secretive about the early spread of the virus, delaying the response of the US and other nations.
STRONG & UNITED, WE WILL PREVAIL! pic.twitter.com/T6UCyaPRIy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
Mr Trump criticised the US media for claiming he was “racist’’ for calling it the “Chinese virus’’.
“They are siding with China,” he said, naming The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Trump said the US was in “uncharted territory’’ as the number of known cases in America increased alarmingly in recent days although part of this reflects an expansion of testing. A growing number of cities and states are now shutting down bars, restaurants and cinemas and calling for people to stay at home.
The US State Department on Friday warned all Americans not to travel overseas and for those overseas to return immediately to the US or else prepare to “shelter in place’’ indefinitely.
The warning said that “in countries where commercial departure options remain available” Americans should “arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period”.
Mr Trump said the Food and Drug Administration was testing whether several prescription drugs, including the anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, can be safely prescribed to coronavirus patients after signs that the drugs may limit the symptoms of the virus.
Mr Trump said the drugs were a possible “game changer’’ but FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said further trials were needed. “We want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial, a large pragmatic clinical trial,” Mr Hahn said.
A vaccine to cure the coronavirus is still considered to be more than a year away.
Meanwhile, the push to approve a $US1 trillion stimulus package to give direct cash to Americans and revive the fast-dying US economy moved ahead after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the package to the Senate where negotiations with Democrats will begin.
It came as US jobless claims soared by 70,000 in only one week as thousands of small and large businesses across the country shed workers amid the sharp economic slowdown.
The first members of Congress also tested positive for the disease with House members Ben McAdams and Mario Diaz-Balart confirming they have virus.
Mr Trump on Thursday invoked the wartime powers of the Defence Production Act to force US industry to ramp up the production of critical equipment including ventilators, respirators and protective clothes.
But he was criticised for saying he would only use such powers in a “worse-case’’ scenario.
“Yesterday, President Trump said he was invoking the Defence Production Act, then turned around and said he wasn’t planning to use it,” Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said. “The President should exercise these powers now. We need more ventilators, protective equipment, and critical supplies. We need action, not words,” Mr Biden said.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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