Trump administration seeks $2.5 billion in funds to fight coronavirus
CGTN

The Trump administration is asking Congress for 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, including more than 1 billion dollars for vaccines, the White House said on Monday.

With financial markets falling on concerns that the virus will have a significant impact on the global economy, the Trump administration is eager to show it is prepared to combat the virus despite the limited number of cases so far in the United States.

The virus has spread to some 29 countries and regions beyond the Chinese mainland, with outbreaks in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

"The Trump administration continues to take the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease very seriously. Today, the administration is transmitting to Congress a 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar supplemental funding plan to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much needed equipment and supplies," said Rachel Semmel, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The money will be used for therapeutics, vaccine development and the stockpiling of personal protective equipment such as masks, the White House said.

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield (L), Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar (C), and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun (R), attend a news conference about the virus, Friday, February 7, 2020, at Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington. /AP

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield (L), Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar (C), and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun (R), attend a news conference about the virus, Friday, February 7, 2020, at Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington. /AP

Of the 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar request, 1.5 billion U.S. dollars represents new funding. The rest would come from funds already budgeted by Congress, such as unused money to fight the Ebola virus. The administration requires congressional approval to redirect that money to fight the coronavirus.

The United States has not seen the virus spread through its communities the way that China and other countries have experienced, but health officials are preparing for the possibility even as Americans affected so far have been quarantined.

The Centers for Disease Control warned Americans on Monday to avoid travel to South Korea because of the virus. "We have aggressively worked to combat the spread of this virus, tried to prevent it as best we could from coming into this country," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters earlier on Monday. 

Democrats controlling the House wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar earlier this month to request funds to help speed development of a coronavirus vaccine, expand laboratory capacity, and beef up screening efforts at U.S. entry points.

There have been 53 confirmed U.S. cases of the new coronavirus so far - 14 in people diagnosed in the United States and 39 among Americans repatriated from the outbreak's epicenter of Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source(s): Reuters