Shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) called the coronavirus outbreak a "pandemic", US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that his country has suspended all travel from Europe for 30 days due to the deadly virus.
President Trump, however, added that the "strong but necessary" restrictions would not apply to the UK. "Europe saw more cases because governments failed to stop travel from China, where the COVID-19 epidemic began," Trump said in his address to the nation.
Notably, the number of cases of coronavirus patients in Europe is increasing with each passing day and several European nations have brought in tough measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Hours before his address to the nation, Trump had tweeted saying that "US is making a policy to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against coronavirus to save lives in America and the world".
America is the Greatest Country in the world. We have the best scientists, doctors, nurses and health care professionals. They are amazing people who do phenomenal things every day....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2020
He also mentioned that the "US has the best scientists, doctors, nurses and health care professionals".
I want to thank all of our Great Government officials on the CoronaVirus Task Force who are working around the clock, in response to the CoronaVirus. Continue to check https://t.co/boZM2NePJW for updates, and follow all recommendations that are available....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2020
Calling coronavirus an enemy of the world, President Trump said that the media should view this as a time of unity and strength and the US must beat coronavirus as quickly and safely as possible.
In a related development, a state of emergency was declared in Washington due to coronavirus outbreak in the city. The announcement in the regard was made by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser as 10 cases of the infection were confirmed in Washington.
"Today, I want to announce that I am declaring both a state of emergency and a public health emergency in Washington DC," Bowser said at a briefing on Wednesday.
