President Donald Trump said he will announce Thursday new guidelines on easing coronavirus restrictions in the country.
The move, aimed to help reopen the ailing U.S. economy, is on the basis of his consultations with governors and business leaders.
According to him, the United States has passed the peak of new coronavirus cases and predicted some states would reopen this month.
“The data suggests that nationwide we are past the peak,” Mr Trump said at the daily White House briefing Wednesday.
“These encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country,” he added.
“We’ll be the comeback kids, all of us. We want to get our country back…and we’re going to do it soon ,” the president told reporters.
Trump, who earlier said that he remains determined to reopen the U.S. for business as soon as possible, formed a task force on Tuesday to figure out the details and to solicit feedback from businesses.
Trump repeated his attack on the World Health Organization, accusing the UN health agency of pro-China although the United States is its biggest donor.
The coronavirus death toll in the United States crossed 30,000 with more than 638,000 confirmed cases by the end of Wednesday.
Despite the rapidly rising infections, Trump hinted that some states may be able to return to normalcy earlier than the tentative reopening date of May 1.
However, the country is not yet ready to reopen, experts and governors of the worst-affected states say.
Speaking at the White House news conference, Dr. Deborah Leah Birx, who is the coronavirus response coordinator in the White House, said it is for the governors and mayors to make decisions after looking into generalized guidelines.
The social distancing guidelines that the Trump administration announced will expire on April 30.
The White House recommendations include avoiding gathering in groups of more than 10, avoiding discretionary travel, working or attending school from home, and avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants, and public food courts.
As the Labor Department is set to release official unemployment data Thursday, The Washington Post reported that U.S. economy is sinking into a Depression-like scenario, with economists predicting that another 5 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week.
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