TEHRAN (Iran News) – US President Donald Trump said more travel restrictions into the country were being considered to control the spread of the Covid-19 after a sixth American died from the worldwide pandemic.
“Yes, we are to certain countries where they have more of a breakout,“ Trump told reporters on Monday in response to a question on whether his administration would close US borders to more countries affected by the virus. “We are doing that. We’ve already done it as you know with three countries in addition to China. So, we will be doing more.”
Aside from banning foreign nationals who have visited China in the past 14 days, the US has also imposed travel restrictions for people coming in from Iran, Italy and South Korea — countries where the Covid-19 outbreak has been particularly severe.
Comments of Trump, made during a meeting on Monday with the heads of pharmaceutical companies called to discuss the pandemic, came as US health authorities reported that a sixth person in Washington state had died of the COVID-19, Bernama news agency reported.
The coronavirus has so far killed nearly 3,100 people globally and infected more than 88,000 others. While the US death toll itself was marginal, it has raised fears on what might happen if the virus becomes a pandemic within the country, just like in China.
To another question, he wasn’t ready yet to declare a national emergency over the outbreak.
“I don’t think you’ll need that because we’re in extremely good shape,“ he said. “We’re prepared for anything. We can always do that (an emergency declaration) at a later date if we need it, but I don’t think we need that now.”
Earlier, Trump heard from the heads of pharmaceutical companies, including big multinational brand names, that it will take at least a year to develop a “deployable” vaccine for the virus.
- source : Tasnim, Irannews
