A vote on Thursday approved the setting up of a House of Representatives watchdog panel to probe the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus. This measure was added into the $484bn stimulus package that passed in the House on Thursday and then sent to the president's desk for signing.
Donald Trump boasted the passing of the stimulus package during his White House press briefing and added he expected to sign it tonight. The stimulus package will provide more funding to the Paycheck Protection Programme, hospitals, and testing.
The press briefing then took a bizarre turn after a Department of Homeland Security official revealed new findings about the coronavirus, namely that the virus doesn't fare as well on surfaces or in air with heat or light. These findings also showed how the coronavirus reacted on surfaces when it was cleaned with disinfectants like isopropyl alcohol and bleach.
The president asked if there could be a disinfectant injection to fight Covid-19 and would be "almost a cleaning" in the body. "It would be interesting to check that," he said. The Independent does not recommend for any reader to ingest bleach or other forms of disinfectant to fight the coronavirus.
More attacks were fired at Georgia Governor Brian Kemp about his decisions to reopen his state early. Mr Trump said he was "not happy" with the governor for lifting specific restrictions.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had some blunt words for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell regarding the latter's suggestion that state's could opt for bankruptcy — the governor also shared the latest results from anitbody testing in New York.
A political storm is brewing meanwhile over Dr Rick Bright, a vaccines expert who tells The New York Times he was ousted as the director of a federal biomedical agency for disputing the administration’s efforts to promote hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure for Covid-19.
