Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar offered an update on the Trump administration’s response to the new coronavirus outbreak.
Azar has been at the forefront of the U.S. response to the outbreak spreading across the country. On Monday, he said in an interview with Fox News that the U.S. is treating the situation seriously and said COVID-19 “is a very serious health problem.”
The new coronavirus, which originated in China late last year, has forced governments across the globe to halt manufacturing and close borders. The markets suffered a historic sell-off Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite posting their worst day since 2008, as the outbreak worsens in the U.S.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has sickened at least 755 people in the U.S. and has killed at least 26 as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, the virus has spread to more than 100 countries, infecting at least 114,000 people and killing more than 4,000.
— CNBC’s
Yelena Dzhanova
and
Lauren Hirsch
contributed to this report.
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