Donald Trump has provoked criticism after contradicting medical experts over the deadly coronavirus outbreak, claiming in a new interview the CDC provided a “false number” in its reports about the outbreak without offering any evidence.
With at least 160 cases in at least 18 states according to the latest reports, the president suggested some people would be able to go to work even if they are infected and that he had a “hunch” that “a lot of people … [will] get better very rapidly.”
Meanwhile, Mike Pence said at the White House on Thursday: "We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward."
He previously suggested there would be over a million tests available nationwide by the end of this week, and that "every American can be tested" if they wanted, regardless of health insurance, because it had been deemed an "essential health benefit".
Some independent experts were flummoxed by the vice president's comments, uncertain that the government has the authority to order blanket coverage of a medical service.
"I'm not sure what he means," said Karen Pollitz of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "I can't point to anything that would back that up."
"Essential health benefits" is a term used in the Affordable Care Act to describe broad categories of care. Under the health law, preventive services have to be covered at no cost to the patient. But that designation requires a formal evaluation by an expert task force, and there's no indication that has happened.
And the coronavirus test might be classified as a diagnostic test, not a preventive service. Usually, patients pay some of the cost for diagnostic tests, through copays and deductibles.
It's unlikely that a patient will receive only one test for coronavirus. A doctor also might order a chest X-ray or tests for bacterial pneumonia or the flu, also respiratory diseases, depending on the patient's symptoms.
About half of all insured adults in the United States worry about affording their deductible, according to a recent poll from the Kaiser Foundation.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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Mr Trump has provoked criticism for contradicting the World Health Organisation over the growing death toll, while Congress approved an emergency $8.3bn (£6.4bn) funding package to tackle the disease.
Here's Conrad Duncan with the full story.
Trump denies official coronavirus death rate as he has ‘hunch’ it is lower
President suggests hundreds of thousands could recover from potentially fatal virus 'just by sitting around'An ocean liner that previously carried two passengers who contracted the coronavirus was barred from returning to its home port of San Francisco from a voyage to Hawaii after at least 20 people aboard fell ill.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the cruise ship Grand Princess would remain at sea until passengers and crew complaining of symptoms that may be consistent with the coronavirus can be tested to determine whether they have it.
"So we're holding that ship, which is thousands of passengers, off the coast, and will be conducting those tests and getting those tests back," he said.
Eleven passengers and 10 crew members have reported symptoms that could turn out to be the coronavirus, seasonal flu or the common cold.
The latest reports indicate at least 160 cases have been confirmed in at least 17 states across the country, as Vice President Mike Pence said there would be 1.5 million tests available nationwide by the end of this week.
Analysts say those numbers may surge in the coming days and weeks ahead as testing continues:
The outbreak began with a trickle of concerning reports from around the Chinese city of Wuhan in mid-December, before China finally informed the World Health Organisation of the disease on the last day of 2019.
It appears to have had its origins in a seafood market in Wuhan. But it emerged at a time when many were travelling for the Lunar New Year, and Wuhan is a hugely popular hub for travel both within China and internationally.
Donald Trump has denied the official global death rate for coronavirus reported by health experts because he has a “hunch” it is lower.
The president described the 3.4 per cent global death rate given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday as a “false number” in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity and gave medical advice which contradicted his public health experts.
Mr Trump suggested there could be hundreds of thousands of people who would recover from the virus “just by sitting around” and suggested some people would be able to go to work even if they are infected.
A team of scientists created a vaccine that may have been able to prevent the deadly coronavirus outbreak, but they were never able to get funding to commence clinical trials, experts told Congress on Thursday.
Dr Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, testified before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee as health officials confirmed at least 160 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus in at least 17 states across the country.
“We had the vaccine ready to go, but we couldn’t move it into funding because by then nobody was interested in coronavirus vaccine,” the doctor told lawmakers about a vaccine his team developed to protect against a strain of coronavirus in 2016.
Story to come...
Dr Hotez said the vaccine his team created in response to SARS may provide patients with cross-protection from the new strain of coronavirus that has caused more than 3,200 deaths worldwide, the majority of those cases resulting in China where the illness was believed to have originated.
The infant tested positive a day after his 40-year-old mother was confirmed to have the illness, after the pair travelled to Adelaide from Iran via Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, health officials said.
They are both currently in isolation at Flinders Medical Centre but are said to be in a stable condition.
The second new case on Thursday was a 58-year-old man who travelled from Taiwan to Brisbane, and then on to Adelaide, where he arrived on Tuesday.
Congresswoman Donna Shalala, discussing a Wednesday briefing by Trump administration officials about the federal coronavirus response, revealed there was agreement in the closed-door meeting.
The Florida representative, who was Health and Human Services secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Thursday she is concerned that testing kits are being produced and distributed too slowly.
"And so is the administration," she said.
That agreement is a major reason why an emergency funding measure, the product of a bipartisan compromise, the House passed on Wednesday includes $826 million that will help speed production of testing kits and other measures. The Senate is poised to approve that bill and send it to Mr Trump's desk; he has signalled he will sign it into law.
On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence announced "all state laboratories, all university laboratories at the state level, can conduct coronavirus tests without any additional assets or resources from the federal government."
"They have the FDA-approved tests; they can conduct the test all across the country in all the states," the VP said.
"Beyond that, as we announced, through the efforts of HHS, 2,500 kits of tests are going out this week,"he said. "That's roughly 1.5 million tests that will be available this week. We'll continue to build on that number."
Mr Pence contended those testing developments "gave us great hope for great progress in the near future on expanding testing across the country."
Senator Lindsey Graham has sided with science over President Donald Trump's "hunch" contradicting the World Health Organisation's (WHO) coronavirus mortality rate figures.
"I listen to the scientists when it comes to the numbers, and I would encourage the president, if he's going to report things, to make sure the science is behind what he's saying."
The president denied the official global death rate for coronavirus reported by health experts because he has a “hunch” it is lower.
Donald Trump isn't the only Washington politician with coronavirus jokes.
Asked Thursday about the Democratic presidential nominating race coming down to former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Speaker Nancy Pelosi again said it's fine with the duo disagrees. And she said again the party will unite around the eventual nominee.
She then predicted Democrats will "madly embrace" the eventual nominee. But she caught herself amid the virus outbreak.
"We'll madly elbow bump," she said with a grin a day after the president said he hasn't touched his face "in weeks," adding: "I miss it."
As the spread of Covid-19, or coronavirus, continues to put people off global travel, airlines have reacted swiftly.
A drop in demand has led to a dramatic pruning of certain routes, such as the UK to northern Italy and Singapore, China and South Korea.
Here’s a list of airlines that have slashed flight itineraries.
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