President Donald Trump during a news conference about the coronavirus, at the White House in Washington, on Ap…Read More
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled a new phase-wise approach to reopen the country’s economy jolted by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing governors to take decision on lifting curbs in their states.
Currently more than 95 per cent of America’s 330 million population are under a stay-at-home order and over 22 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits.
More than 640,000 Americans have contracted the coronavirus, and over 31,000 have lost their lives.
Asserting that a prolonged lockdown, combined with a forced economic depression, would inflict an immense and wide-ranging toll on public health, Trump told reporters Thursday that his administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased approach to reopening their individual states.
Trump said healthy Americans will now be able to return to work if conditions on the ground allow.
“Instead of a blanket shutdown, we will pursue a focus on sheltering the highest risk individuals,” he said, adding that his administration is establishing clear scientific metric and benchmarks on testing new case growth and hospital capac