US President Donald Trump speaks during an African American History Month Reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 27, 2020. (AFP photo)
President Donald Trump has claimed that the United States is "way ahead" on coronavirus response due to his administrations actions taken to contain the disease, as US authorities face growing criticism for not doing enough to prevent a widespread outbreak of the virus.
In a tweet on Friday, Trump, who has been under fire about the US governments response to the COVID-19 outbreak, said the "Do Nothing Democrats" were placing blame on him and countered that the virus was spreading "very slowly in the U.S. because President Trump closed our border, and ended flights, VERY EARLY."
"The Do Nothing Democrats were busy wasting time on the Immigration Hoax, & anything else they could do to make the Republican Party look bad, while I was busy calling early BORDER & FLIGHT closings, putting us way ahead in our battle with Coronavirus. Dems called it VERY wrong!" he added in a follow-up tweet.
Meanwhile, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney accused the American press of peddling a false narrative about the Trump administration "scrambling" to contain the virus.
US Democratic presidential candidates attacked Trumps handling of the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday.
"We need a president who does not play politics with our health and national security," said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the national Democratic frontrunner.
The Trump administration "must stop releasing misleading, unscientific, and false information" about coronavirus, Sanders said in a statement.
His comments came after Trump held a news conference on Wednesday saying the risk from the virus was "very low" in the United States and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the response, citing Pences record on an HIV outbreak in Indiana while he was governor of the state.
Sanders said that Pence was "completely unqualified" and called Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House economist Larry Kudlow "political cronies," who should be replaced by experts.
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said that Trump was "burying his head in the sand" over coronavirus.
"His failure to prepare is crippling our ability to respond," Bloomberg said.
Meanwhile, a World Health Organization (WHO) said that he found Trumps remarks during a news conference on Wednesday on his administrations response to the coronavirus outbreak a "little incoherent."
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, special adviser to the director general of the WHO, said that Trumps comments indicated how little the president knew about public health.
He also pointed out that health officials still do not know vital information about the deadly virus, which has also affected at least 60 people in the United States.
"I found most of what he said a little incoherent," Emanuel said, pointing to Trumps admission that he was shocked by the number of people who die from the common flu annually.
SOURCE: PRESS TV
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/14337
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