Trump news: President disagrees with official CDC warning in rambling coronavirus conference as he puts Pence in charge

Trump official wrongly says coronavirus rate similar to flu

Donald Trump has downplayed the possibility of a widespread outbreak of the coronavirus inside the United States, calling the risk "low" a day and appearing to disagree with his top health officials who have said it is a matter of when, not if, the country sees serious illnesses.

"No, I dont think it's inevitable. It probably will, It possibly will," he said. "This will end. ... Nothing's inevitable."

He said he was putting vice president Mike Pence in charge of overseeing efforts to protect Americans from the deadly virus, which has killed thousands of people – particularly in China – although there have been no fatalities in the US.

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[26 February 2020 23:40 · Phil Thomas]

Trump says people with the virus in the US are getting better and talks about "taking in" some from Japan because they were US citizens. He says he could have left them but felt it was right to repatriate them.

[26 February 2020 23:47 · Phil Thomas]

He said there was "very good bipartisan spirit" over reserving money to put towards protecting Americans from the deadly virus. Mr Trump has asked for $2,5bn but Democrats had said it would need as much as $8.5bn.

[26 February 2020 23:50 · Phil Thomas]

Mike Pence, the vice president, will be in charge of overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus threat. It had been rumoured that Mr Trump was planning to appoint a coronavirus czar, although he did not use the phrase when he introduced the former Indiana governor.

[26 February 2020 23:59 · Phil Thomas]

The president played down the threat of the deadly virus, saying the US was "very, very ready". John T Bennett has the full story:

[27 February 2020 00:00 · Clark Mindock]

An small update for the Pentagon:

[27 February 2020 00:09 · Phil Thomas]

The president appears to disagree with an assessment yesterday by the Center for Disease Control that it was a matter of when, not if, the United States saw severe illnesses from the coronavirus. In a Q&A session he said he did not think it was "inevitable".

[27 February 2020 00:14 · Phil Thomas]

"This will end, this will end," the president says, stressing that up to 60,000 people die from the flu in the US every year, while no one has succumbed to coronavirus in the United States yet.

[27 February 2020 00:18 · Phil Thomas]

Trump turns to the stock market, which has suffered serious losses this week. He says one of the main reasons for the fall is that people are worried about a Democratic win in the presidential election in November, rather than having much to do with concern over how the government is handling the coronavirus crisis.

[27 February 2020 00:24 · Phil Thomas]

The president's appointment of Mike Pence as his coronavirus czar has jogged the memory of several people on Twitter who have reproduced one of his tweets from the time of the ebola crisis:

[27 February 2020 00:27 · Lucy Anna Gray]

While answering a question about what precautions Americans should be taking, Donald Trump discussed his personal interest in avoiding germs and staying cleans. He said he is always washing is hands and staying clean - "as many of you know". He went on to tell an anecdote of when a man hugged him as a greeting, and the president said "Are you well?" and the man replied "no", saying that he was in fact unwell. 

The president pulled a face and proceeded to joke and laugh with reporters.