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Trump sees no reason to get tested for coronavirus: "I feel good"

11 March 2020 04:32 (UTC +04:00)

The US president is known to have recently come into contact with at least three individuals who have since gone into quarantine after coming into contact with one COVID-19 positive person at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington late last month, APA reports citing Sputnik.

US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns regarding whether or not he may have been infected with the new coronavirus on Tuesday, saying he felt great and didn't feel any reason to get tested.

"I don't think it's a big deal. I would do it. I don't feel any reason. I feel extremely good," Trump said, speaking to reporters.

"I guess it's not a big deal to get tested and it's something I would do, but again, I spoke to the White House doctor, terrific guy, talented guy, he said he sees no reason to do it. There's no symptoms, no anything," Trump added.

Coronavirus Will 'Go Away'

Appealing to Americans, Trump called on people to remain calm. "It will go away, just stay calm...Be calm. It's really working out. And a lot of good things are going to happen," he said.

Trump said he'd been "briefed on every contingency you can possibly imagine" on COVID-19's spread, and noted that the US was taking coronavirus "unbelievably seriously," with Vice President Mike Pence's task force said to be doing a "fantastic" job.

Rebutting media criticism on the US's slow testing response, Trump said he tought the US "has done a very good job on testing," changing up policies which he intimated were in place during the previous administration.

"The biggest thing that we did was stopping the inflow of people early on, and that was weeks ahead of schedule, weeks ahead of what other people would have done," Trump said.

CPAC COVID-19 Fears

Media fears that the president may have contracted COVID-19 at the Conservative Political Action Conference which both he and Vice President Pence spoke at late last month were voiced last week, after it emerged that one of the conference's participants had tested positive for coronavirus. Neither Trump nor Pence were believed to have come into direct contact with the individual, and the president has said that he was "not concerned at all" about it.