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Coronavirus pandemic
WorldUnited States & Canada

Coronavirus: Trump asks Congress for US$2.5 billion to fight outbreak

  • The White House budget office said the funds are for vaccines, treatment, and protective equipment
  • Coronavirus fears were credited with Monday’s 1,000-plus point drop in the Dow Jones Industrials

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A sign reminding people to wash their hands outside a dormitory at the Washington State Patrol Fire Training Academy which has been designated as a 2019 novel coronavirus quarantine site for travellers. Photo: AFP
Reuters

The Trump administration is sending to the US Congress a budget request for US$2.5 billion to fight coronavirus, the White House said on Monday.

The request came as key US government accounts were running low. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had already tapped into an emergency infectious disease rapid response fund and was seeking to transfer more than US$130 million from other HHS accounts to combat the virus but is pressing for more.

It also came as the outbreak spread beyond China to regions from Italy to Iran that sparked concerns about a pandemic that has sent global stocks tumbling.

More than US$1 billion of the money would go toward developing a vaccine, the White House said.

“Today, the Administration is transmitting to Congress a US$2.5 billion supplemental funding plan to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much needed equipment and supplies,” Rachel Semmel, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement.

Trump was a vocal critic of former President Barack Obama’s response to the 2014 Ebola scare, which barely touched the US, but was seen as a factor in that year’s midterm elections, which restored control of the Senate to Republicans.

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