Trump says additional coronavirus cases likely but 'no reason to panic'
Dow Jones index has plummeted more than 3,500 points amid coronavirus fears
WASHINGTON -- President Trump says 22 people in the U.S. have been stricken by the new coronavirus and additional cases in the United States are "likely."
Trump provided an update on the virus after the first reported U.S. death Saturday, of a woman he described as being in her late 50s and having a high medical risk. He says healthy Americans should be able to recover if they contract the new virus.
The virus threat has spooked global markets and the public at large, but Trump is cautioning that "there's no reason to panic at all."
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Trump spoke a day after he denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a "hoax" cooked up by his political enemies.
On Friday, health officials confirmed a second case of coronavirus in the U.S. in a person who didn't travel internationally or have close contact with anyone who had the virus. The U.S. has a total of about 60 confirmed cases.
President Trump speaks in the press briefing room at the White House on Saturday, Feb. 29. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
At a political rally Friday night in South Carolina, Trump sought to steal some of the spotlight from his Democratic rivals who were campaigning across the state on the evening before its presidential primary. He accused Democrats of "politicizing" the coronavirus threat and boasted about preventive steps he's ordered in an attempt to keep the virus that originated in China from spreading across the United States. Those steps include barring entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China.
"They have no clue. They don't have a clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa," Trump said, referring to problems that plagued the Democratic vote in the Iowa caucuses Feb. 3.
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"They tried the impeachment hoax. ... This is their new hoax," Trump said of Democratic denunciations of his administration's coronavirus response.
Some Democrats have said Trump could have acted sooner to bolster the U.S. response to the virus. Democratic and Republican lawmakers also have said his request for an additional $2.5 billion to defend against the virus isn't enough. They've signaled they will provide substantially more funding.
Trump said Democrats want him to fail and argued that steps he's taken so far have kept cases to a minimum and prevented virus deaths in the U.S.