Trump discredits WHO and blames Obama for lack of coronavirus tests

US President says death toll from epidemic released

The president of the United States , Donald Trump said on Thursday, 5 that the national shortage of coronavirus test kits is the government’s fault Barack Obama . The American leader referred to a supposed decision taken by the previous administration that would have made it difficult, in this moment of epidemic, to carry out rapid tests for detection of the virus.

“The Obama administration made a decision about the tests that proved very damaging to us. We are going to reverse this decision in a few days so that the tests can take place in a much more precise and faster way, “said Trump.

The decision Trump was referring to was not clear. British newspaper The Guardian reported that the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , Robert Redfield, said the previous administration had regulated the conduct of clinical tests in private laboratories. “To do this, it was necessary to call the FDA [the federal agency that regulates food and medicine],” said Redfield.

However, according to the journalism NGO ProPublica, the lack of coronavirus test kits is related to the CDC’s choice to develop and distribute its own kit, instead of using the one recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) .

The American president also attacked the Democratic Party for warning about the epidemic, questioning its seriousness. On Wednesday 4, Trump said he did not believe in the coronavirus mortality rate released by the WHO, 3.4%.

“I think 3.4% is actually a fake number,” he said in a live interview with Fox News, his favorite television station. He also added that the organization “does not know about easy cases, which do not go to the hospital,” and believes that coronavirus mortality is below 1%.

According to the database of the American newspaper The New York Times , there are 163 confirmed cases in the United States, and 11 dead.