US President Donald Trump said that 1000 military personnel are deploying to New York City amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. He said that it would be the medical military and that "we might add to the thousand".
"I can also report that 1,000 military personnel are deploying to New York City to assist, where they are needed the most, that's the hottest of all, the hotspots. ... We're getting doctors, nurses, respiratory specialists and other support workers, this is from the military", Trump said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have ordered production of 180 million masks, working with the 3M company, he also said at a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the United States on Saturday.
When answering a question on the situation involving the alleged interception of 200,000 masks intended for the German police, the president expressed strong dissatisfaction with the performance of the 3M company, which had designed the masks.
"We are very disappointed with 3M. They can sell to others, but they should be taking care of our country", he said.
Donald Trump also added that the members of the Coronavirus Task Force are working with hospitals and distributors to make sure that priority is given to those with the highest need. He stressed that 29 million doses of anti-malarial drugs are to be stored in the national strategic stockpile for COVID-19 patients.
The number of COVID-19 deaths would be on the rise this and next week, he also said.
"This will be probably the toughest week, between this week and next week, and there will be a lot of death, unfortunately. But a lot less death than if this wasn’t done, but there will be death", Trump told reporters at the briefing.
According to the president, areas of the country which do not have big outbreaks are asking the federal government for more help than they need.
The US state of New York has recorded its largest daily increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases as 10,841 positive tests were reported on Saturday, with the death toll also rising by 630, according to State Governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo confirmed that 10,841 new cases of the disease have been registered, raising the total number of cases reported in the state since the start of the outbreak to 113,704. The COVID-19 death toll in the state of New York now stands at 3,565. About 15,905 people are currently receiving treatment for the disease in hospitals, and 4,126 of those are currently in intensive care units.
As of 4 April, the number of coronavirus cases nationwide has reached 277,205, with the death toll standing at almost 6,600, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. According to Johns Hopkins University dashboard, the US has registered near 302,000 cases.
