Coronavirus: Trump says he is ‘angry at China’; health expert warns US could hit 1 lakh daily cases
The US on Tuesday reportedly bought all the stock of a key drug in the treatment of the coronavirus, remdesivir, leaving almost none for the rest of the world.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was growing “more and more angry at China” over the spread of the coronavirus, as the American government’s top health expert warned that the rate of Covid-19 infections could double to 1 lakh a day if current outbreaks were not contained, AFP reported.
“As I watch the pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world, including the tremendous damage it has done to the USA, I become more and more angry at China,” Trump tweeted.
As I watch the Pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world, including the tremendous damage it has done to the USA, I become more and more angry at China. People can see it, and I can feel it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2020
The statement came after Anthony S Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the United States was headed in the “wrong direction” on the pandemic. Fauci is a member of Trump’s coronavirus taskforce.
“I’m very concerned and I’m not satisfied with what’s going on, because we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said while testifying to a Senate panel. “Clearly we are not in total control right now. I would not be surprised if it goes up to 1,00,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
US is the worst affected by the pandemic in the world. The country has reported over 26.34 lakh cases of the coronavirus, including 1.27 lakh deaths, as of Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Fauci added that the United States cannot count on the availability of a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Reuters reported. “It’s extremely important to have safe and effective vaccines available for everyone in this country,” he told the Senate. “[But] there is no guarantee...we’ll have a safe and effective vaccine.”
More than 40,000 coronavirus cases are being reported every day across the United States, as the infection spreads across the southern states of the country such as Texas and Florida, Facui said. The health expert added that he believed some states are “skipping over some of the checkpoints” that assure safe reopenings of business and public spaces.
Los Angeles, the second-largest US city, has become a new epicenter in the pandemic with nearly 3,000 new cases on Monday.
Fauci also warned the youth of the country against their “dangerous behaviour” of not wearing masks, flouting norms of physical distancing and thronging to public spaces. “I think we need to emphasise the responsibility that we have, both as individuals and as part of a societal effort to end the epidemic, that we all have to play a part in that,” he said.
US buys all stock of remdesivir
Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday bought all the stock of a key drug in the treatment of the coronavirus, remdesivir, leaving almost none for the rest of the world for the next few months, The Guardian reported.“They’ve got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there’s nothing for Europe,” said Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow at Liverpool University.
Alex Azar, US health and human services secretary called the move “an amazing deal” to ensure Americans have the access to the drug. “To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it,” he said. “The Trump administration is doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for Covid-19 and secure access to these options for the American people.”
The United States had approved the use of the antiviral drug as a treatment for patients severely ill with Covid-19 in May.
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