Published 06:05 IST, April 3rd 2020
Donald Trump re-tests for COVID-19 'out of curiosity'; explains its process
US President Donald Trump tested negative for the novel Coronavirus for the second time with the new rapid-use kit in the US, he announced on Friday morning.
US President Donald Trump tested negative for Coronavirus for the second time with the new rapid-use kit in the US, he announced on Friday morning. Calling the second test 'more pleasant', Trump said that he took it 'out of curiosity'.
Trump said at the White House press brief, "I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked." And its a lot easier. I've done them both and the second one is much more pleasant."You may have it, just came out. I just took it this morning. And I took it, it took me literally a minute to take it and it took me - I guess it was 14 or 15 minutes (for results). I went to work, I didn't wait for it, but it said it took 14 minutes or something with a conclusion and it said the President tested negative for COVID-19," Trump added.
Sean Conley, Trump''s physician, did not provide any context for the second test. The doctor, however, said the president had been tested by a new rapid-point-of-care test that delivered results in 15 minutes. Trump flashed a copy of his physician's memorandum to his press secretary during his daily White House news conference. The US President was first tested in March after he came in contact with two people who tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Trump on China's numbers
Donald Trump faced questions Wednesday during the daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic about China's reporting of their positive cases and death numbers. "The numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side," said Trump.
"I'm being nice when I say that relative to what we witnessed and what was reported, but we discussed that with him, not so much the numbers as what they did and how they're doing. And we're in constant communication with. I mean, I would say the biggest communications, myself and President Xi, the relationships are very good," Trump added.
China has publicly reported only about 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, taking the spotlight from China, the US is currently the hotspot of Coronavirus with 244,320 total cases and 5,897 deaths as per Friday morning.
(With PTI inputs)
Updated 06:05 IST, April 3rd 2020