US President Donald Trump said his administration is considering requiring travellers on certain incoming international flights to undergo temperature and virus checks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
We're looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected," Trump said at the White House. We will be looking into that in the very near future." Trump said it has not been determined yet whether the federal government or the airlines would conduct the testing.
Maybe it's a combination of both," he said.
Trump's comments came during an event showcasing a loan program designed to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program.
He said the Small Business Administration has processed more loans in 14 days than it has in the previous 14 years.
Earlier, the president defended his administration's handling of the pandemic as he met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and promised to help states safely begin reopening their economies.
Trump, seated next to DeSantis in the Oval Office, insisted that the United States was doing enough testing to protect Americans reentering the workforce. The administration has been sharply criticized for not overseeing widespread testing, but Trump said no amount would ever be good enough for critics in the media.
The president dismissed suggestions that the administration was slow to respond to the threat of COVID-19, including reports that it was mentioned in his daily intelligence briefing in January and February.
He stressed his decision to restrict flights from China though more than 40,000 travellers from China still made it to the US afterward and said of the decision: Whether it was luck, talent or something else, we saved many thousands of lives.
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