Updated February 16th, 2020 at 03:48 IST
Trump defends China's alleged cover-up of Coronavirus, says didn't 'want to create panic'
US President Donald Trump defended China's alleged attempts at covering up the spread and impact of the COVID-19, says it didn't 'want to create panic'.
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In a recent interview, US President Donald Trump defended China's alleged attempts to cover-up the full extent of the COVID-19, the new novel Coronavirus that has claimed over 1,500 lives in China and has spread to other nations as well. Trump had also claimed that the virus will likely "go away" by April.
Trumps claims China did not want to trigger 'panic'
According to reports, Trump has claimed that he believes China is doing a very professional job in handling the deadly viral outbreak. And in regards to allegations that China has downplayed the effects of the virus and its spread, the US President said that China was just "trying to put the best face on it" and that they did not want to create panic.
Earlier, the US President had said he isn’t concerned that China is covering up the extent of the spread of Coronavirus, adding that he had a “great conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping from whom he got to know that China is "working really hard" to fight COVID-19.
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Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
....he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
China's alleged Coverup
During the early days of the outbreak, Chinese whistleblower Doctor Li Wenliang sounded the alarm on the Wuhan Coronavirus. Dr Li was then subsequently reprimanded by Chinese authorities for trying to spread the news about the Coronavirus. Dr Li Wenliang died of the virus in February 7.
China has accused nations of 'overreacting' and Wang Yi, a state councillor who also serves as China’s foreign minister has been quoted saying that the virus is under control in China. Trump believes COVID-19 virus will die out in the summer’s heat and that is why the date of April is so important.
However, reports claim that the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) which is America's own health agency has denied claims that heat kills the virus.
(Image credit: PTI)
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Published February 16th, 2020 at 03:48 IST