Covid deaths above 50000, Trump says briefings not worth his time after disinfectant gaffe

US President Donald Trump tweeted that his daily coronavirus briefings were not worth his time, two days after sparking a furore by suggesting patients might be injected with disinfectant to kill an infection. He appeared to confirm media reports that he was considering halting the briefings, out of frustration with questions about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that he had never called the coronavirus pandemic as hoax.

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Trump says remark was 'sarcastic'

Donald Trump had earlier on Friday suggested the possibility of studying injecting disinfectants into COVID-19 patients or bringing UV light "inside" their bodies to kill the deadly virus, drawing immediate flak from American health experts who urged people not to listen to such "dangerous" advice.

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Launching a new scientific study conducted by his department, Homeland Security for Science and Technology Under Secretary Bill Bryan on Thursday said the coronavirus dies at a much more rapid pace when exposed to sunlight and humidity. "The virus dies the quickest in direct sunlight. Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds," he told White House reporters in the presence of President Trump at his daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country. Bryan's remarks left Trump wondering if there was a possibility of injecting the chemical into a person infected with COVID-19 as a deterrent to the virus.

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"I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute...And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that," the US president told reporters at the press briefing. Trump also raised the possibility of using light to combat the deadly viral infection. 

Later after facing massive backlash, Donald Trump insisted that he was being "sarcastic".  Hours later, the maker of Lysol and another disinfectant said its products should "under no circumstance" be used as an internal treatment for the coronavirus.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Friday, Trump said he was "asking a sarcastic, and a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside." But he said, disinfectant "does kill it and it would kill it on the hands, and that would make things much better." Asked if he was encouraging Americans to inject disinfectant into their bodies, Trump said, "Of course not."

(with PTI inputs)

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