US President Donald Trump announced a news conference from the White House on the coronavirus epidemic Wednesday, with experts warning they expect it to spread in the United States.
"I will be having a News Conference at the White House, on this subject, today at 6:00 PM" Trump tweeted, adding that officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would attend.
Authorities have urged Americans to develop plans to avoid mass gatherings amid dire warnings that countries are not ready to contain an outbreak that has infected 80,000 people, mostly in China.
Critics, including lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, have expressed growing alarm over the Trump administration's response to the crisis.
Wall Street stocks opened higher after suffering a second straight rout Tuesday, with losses picking up after US health officials warned the epidemic was likely to hit the world's biggest economy.
With cases being reported in more countries -- and lockdowns in nations including Austria, Italy and Spain -- traders are growing increasingly fearful about the impact on the global economy.
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Democrats have pointed to a White House request to Congress for deep cuts to the budgets of science and health agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.
On Monday, the White House sent a request to Congress to make at least USD 2.5 billion in funding available for preparedness and response, including developing treatments and vaccines and buying equipment for a strategic national stockpile.
But Trump has not appointed a point person or task force on the crisis, while the global health security expert position on the National Security Council has been left vacant for almost two years.
Addressing Trump directly, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tweeted: "It was incompetent and dangerous that: You reduced our ability to prevent epidemics. You proposed cuts to CDC funding.
"You just trusted other governments (like China) to handle this. You can spin this any way you want, but it's incompetence."