Published 12:41 IST, April 14th 2020
Donald Trump makes media sit through clips of governors lauding him for COVID-19 response
Donald Trump made the media sit through the video of the clips of their reporters, other governors of state praising the White House for its swift response.
United States President Donald Trump made the media sit through the video of the clips of US governors praising the White House for its swift response since the pandemic originated in China. The unprecedented move by Trump came as his administration was being scrutinised over its response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Just a day before, one of the leading members of US task force for COVID-19, Dr Anthony Fauci had reportedly said that the country “could have saved lives” with early mitigation processes.
However, amid such theories, Trump decided to make the journalists sit through the US' response since the beginning of coronavirus cases in the country to till now. As of April 14, US has recorded 587,155 confirmed cases with 23,644 fatalities. The video, that lasted for few minutes, even had a clip of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who appreciated Trump for being diligent, even though his state has emerged as the new hotspot for the novel virus and has recorded over 10,000 deaths. After playing the clip at press briefing at White House, Trump said that there are “hundreds of such clips” but in a bid to keep the video concise, the US President chose just a few.
All 50 states under the Presidential disaster declaration
Meanwhile, Trump issued a disaster declaration for Wyoming on April 12 which implies that all 50 states will be under such declaration “for the first time in history”. According to White House Press Secretary, Judd Deere, a US President has never before declared a major disaster in all its states at once. Donald Trump not only tweeted about the move himself but also said that the country is "winning" against the "war with the invisible enemy". The declaration came on the same day the US surpassed the COVID-19 death toll of Italy which is also one of the hardest-hit countries of the pandemic outside China, where it originated. The nationwide number of casualties in the US hiked from 10,000 to more than 20,000 in reportedly just five days.
After originating from China’s “wet markets”, the coronavirus has now claimed over 119,705 lives worldwide as of April 14. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 210 countries and has infected at least 1,925,234 people. Out of the total infections, 447,958 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.
Updated 12:31 IST, April 14th 2020