Coronavirus: Donald Trump appoints Vice-President Pence to lead containment efforts

The announcement follows criticism that a health official’s warning on Tuesday that a US coronavirus outbreak inevitable conflicted with Trump’s earlier messaging

Trump administration has been on the defensive over its response to the spreading, deadly virus

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US President Donald Trump at a New Delhi press conference on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:03am, 27 Feb 2020Updated: 11:35pm, 27 Feb 2020

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is putting Vice-President Mike Pence in charge of Washington’s efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump cited Pence’s record as governor of the midwestern US state of Indiana as the vice-president’s qualification to tackle the epidemic, asserting that he established a strong health care system in the state.

“They've established great health care [in Indiana], they have a great system there, a system that a lot of states have really looked to ... and I think [Pence is] really very expert at the field,” he said.

The president’s comments follow a warning on Tuesday by top CDC official Nancy Messonnier that a US outbreak of the virus is now “inevitable” as community transmissions – in which multiple cases are detected without any clear source of infection – rise globally. Messonnier’s message sparked criticism that earlier comments by Trump, asserting that the spread of Covid-19 in the US was under control, were misguided.

US President Donald Trump, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, US Vice-President Mike Pence (L) and CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat, holds a news conference with members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) on the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

In the US, there are currently 60 cases of coronavirus infection, including 45 in people who were either brought back from the central Chinese city of Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – or from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, where hundreds of people were sickened.