US Government Forms Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The U.S. government has formed an interagency task force (TF) directly under President Donald Trump to respond to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The White House announced on the 30th (local time) in a statement that "President Trump has announced the formation of the coronavirus TF, and members of the TF have been holding daily meetings since the 27th."

Although there were indications that the White House-led coronavirus response was underway, such as President Trump mentioning in a tweet the day before that "he received briefings from all relevant agencies regarding the coronavirus originating in China," the statement officially confirmed that TF meetings are being held.

According to the statement, President Trump personally chaired the TF meeting the previous day and assigned the TF the tasks of overall response to the novel coronavirus and reporting progress to the president.

The White House emphasized in the statement that "the risk of infection to the American public still appears to be low," but "all relevant agencies are aggressively working to continuously monitor the situation and inform the public." The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the U.S. remains at five.

The TF is led by Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, with the White House National Security Council (NSC) coordinating the work. Robert O'Brien, NSC Advisor; Matthew Pottinger, Deputy NSC Advisor; Stephen Biegun, Deputy Secretary of State; personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, and others are included.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.