Trump Declares National Emergency, Warns He May Add UK To Countries Banned From Traveling To The US

United States President Donald Trump has on March 13 declared a national emergency over the Coronavirus epidemic, a move that will free up about $50b from federal resources to fight the virus.

He also noted that he could add the United Kingdom to a list of 26 countries banned from entering the US .

Trump stated that the move will loosen regulations on the provision of healthcare that could speed up testing of the virus nationally.

When asked why the UK was not included in the travel ban list, he said;

We may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, you could say, ban or whatever it is, during this period.

The numbers have gone up fairly precipitously over the last 24 hours. We may be adding (the UK), and we may be adding a couple of others, and we may frankly start thinking about taking some off.

Trump added that the emergency orders issued will also “confer broad new authorities” to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, “so he can deal with the virus.”

He said;

Azar will be able to waive provisions of applicable laws and regulations to give doctors, hospitals — all hospitals — and health care providers maximum flexibility to respond to the virus.

Trump also claimed that the private sector will provide 5 million coronavirus tests within a month, adding that;

We don’t want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn’t be doing it. And we don’t want everybody running out and taking — only if you have certain symptoms. We don’t want everybody taking this test. It’s totally unnecessary.
 

President Trump expressed that the threat of coronavirus to young, healthy Americans “remains very low,” but warned that “anyone can be a carrier” of the virus.

He continued saying;

While the risks to young and healthy Americans remains very low — read a lot about this in the last two weeks — anyone can be a carrier for the virus and risk transmission to older Americans and those with underlying health conditions, and those who are most at risk, they have not done very well.

Older Americans, who are — especially if they have a health problem — have not done well. We must take all precautions and be responsible for the actions we take.

There are now 2,329 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US and 50 deaths.