Daily Management Review

National Emergency Declared In The US By Donald Trump Over Coronavirus


03/14/2020




National Emergency Declared In The US By Donald Trump Over Coronavirus
A national emergency was declared in the United States by President Donald Trump on Friday because of the quickly spreading coronavirus. This move now allows the Trump administration to gain access to more government aid necessary for addressing the spread of the virus.
 
Coronavirus, that causes a disease called Covid19, has infected more than 138,000 people globally and caused death of more than 5,000.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) identified Europe as the current epicenter of the coronavirus – which has been declared by it as a pandemic. In many parts of the world, the virus outbreak has had a severe impact on the daily lives of people. Governments and authorities across the world have closed down more schools and businesses while most of the major global sporting events have either been cancelled or postponed in order to prevent or slow down the spread of the virus.
 
“To unleash the full power of the federal government to this effort today, I am officially declaring a national emergency - two very big words,” Trump said in remarks at the White House Rose Garden. He added that the virus infection situation in the US could worsen and “the next eight weeks are critical.”
 
The declaration by Trump allowed the Federal government access to about $50 billion which the Trump administration can distribute as aid to states and localities for fighting coronavirus spread. The Trump administration has however also been criticized of being slow and ineffective to react to the spread of the virus and that it had played down the possible threat of the virus for Americans.
 
Two days ago, Trump barred entry of everyone to the country from Europe –United Kingdom, to as a measure to prevent spread of the virus. However on Friday, Trump said that UK could also be included in the list of countries because of virus infections in the UK had risen “precipitously.”
 
Trump was recently photographed with a Brazilian official who has tested positive for the coronavirus and he said on Friday that he himself is likely to be tested “fairly soon”.
 
The coronavirus has forced most countries to impose travel bans – including the US and European countries, which has severely impacted travel and tourism related businesses – the airline industry in particular globally. Panic selling by investors has also affected the global financial markets.
 
On the other hand, Europe was found to be reporting more confirmed coronavirus infections and related deaths than the numbers emerging from the rest of the world combined – except China, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The total global death toll because of the virus reaching the 5,000 mark was described by the WHO as being “a tragic milestone.”
 
A “tried and tested method” to slow the spread of a virus was social distancing, said the WHO’s top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, but added that the transmission of the virus would not be stopped by “a panacea”.
 
 “Blanket travel measures in their own right will do nothing to protect an individual state,” Ryan said.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com)