US CDC chief says coronavirus pandemic 'brought nation to its knees'

United States Public Health Chief and director of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that the coronavirus pandemic has brought the "nation to its knees”. While speaking at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, on June 23, Dr Robert Redfield asserted that the Trump-led government has “underinvested” in the core capabilities of public health and that it was time to step up spending. His remarks came as the lethal respiratory infection has infected  2347022  people across the 50 states.

“We have all done the best that we can do to tackle this virus and the reality is that it’s brought this nation to its knees", he said before adding “We are probably going to spend $7tn because of one little virus.”

Redfield also pointed out that the Trump-led government has underinvested in “core capabilities of public health” including data analysis, public health workforce, emergency reason capabilities and out global health securities and now it was time to step up spending.

Read: Fauci To Testify At A Fraught Time For US Pandemic Response

Rising cases 

Coronavirus cases are witnessing a continuous spike in the country.  As of June 23, at least 25 states in the US including Arizona, California and Florida have recorded more cases that they did the previous week. The US with 121228 fatalities still is the worst affected nation in the word.

Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert has said that he was cautiously optimistic that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021 but warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country.

Read: Ex-CDC Director Warns Of Virus Outbreaks In 5 US States

Fauci and other top health officials also said they have not been asked to slow down testing for coronavirus, an issue that became controversial after President Donald Trump said that he had asked them to do just that because it was uncovering too many infections. 

Read: Fauci Hopeful For A Vaccine By Late 2020, Early 2021

Read: Fauci Says It's 'when, Not If' For US Vaccine