Coronavirus: Donald Trump warns of a wartime ‘sacrifice’

Donald Trump has likened himself to a ‘wartime president’ in the fight against the coronavirus.

‘We’re going to defeat the invisible enemy’: Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has likened himself to a “wartime president” in the fight against the coronavirus, warning Americans they must sacrifice together as they did in World War II to achieve a “complete victory” against the pandemic.

“Every generation of Americans has been called on to make shared sacrifices for the good of the nation,” Mr Trump said at the White House.

“To this day, nobody’s seen anything like what they were able to do during World War II. And now it’s our time. We must sacrifice together, because we are all in this together, and we’ll come through together. We’re going to defeat the invisible enemy, I think we’re going to do it even faster than we thought, and it will be a complete victory.”

His comments came as he invoked the Defence Production Act to force industry to ramp up the manufacture of critical equipment including ventilators, respirators and protective clothes for health workers, all of which are in short supply. Mr Trump also ordered two 1000-bed navy hospital ships to be stationed off the west coast and off New York City to help deal with COVID-19 cases that are soon expected to swamp the capability of local hospitals.

The moves came amid a spike in deaths and infections in the US with a 10 per cent rise in the death toll from 100 to 110 and more than 7000 infections.

“The bottom line is things will get much worse,” said James Phillips, an assistant professor at ­George Washington University Hospital. “We’re at a significant risk of overwhelming the number of beds we have.”

The Trump administration also moved to sharply reduce cross-border movements, closing the country’s northern border with Canada to all non-essential ­crossings.

The President also foreshadowed new measures to turn back all asylum-seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in detention facilities and among Border Patrol agents.

The Senate passed a multi-­billion dollar relief package approved last week by the house that provides greater sick leave, unemployment benefits, free testing, food and medical aid to those ­affected by the virus.

Negotiations are continuing in congress over a separate $US1 trillion stimulus package under which most US adults would receive two separate payments of $US1000 and provide massive bailout payments to airlines, hotels, cruise ships, restaurants and other industries affected by the crisis.

Despite its size, the package is not expected to be the final stimulus measure. Congress is trying to pump as much money as it can into the world’s biggest economy amid fears it will enter a deep recession as the coronavirus brings economic activity to a virtual standstill.

Mr Trump, who has tried to talk up the economy, dismissed reported comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that unemployment could reach 20 per cent because of the coronavirus slowdown.

“I don’t agree with that,” he said of the estimate, describing it as “a total worse case scenario”.

Mr Trump defended his description of COVID-19 as a “Chinese virus”, denying it was racist.

“It’s not racist at all,” he said. “It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate.

“China tried to say at one point that it was caused by American soldiers — that can’t happen.

“It’s not going to happen, not as long as I’m President. It comes from China.”

He stepped up his calls for young people to heed the need for social isolation with many still gathering in bars, restaurants and beaches despite warnings that they could contract it and pass it on to others.

“We don’t want them gathering and I see that they do gather, including on beaches and including in restaurants,” Mr Trump said.

“They’re feeling invincible … but they don’t realise that they can be carrying lots of bad things home to grandmother and grandfather and even their parents.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia