Coronavirus: Trump warns of 'painful two weeks' as officials predict up to 240,000 US deaths

US president Donald Trump has held a marathon two-hour long press briefing in which he warned America to brace for a ‘very, very painful two weeks’. The White House has projected that the coronavirus pandemic could claim 100,000 to 240,000 US lives, even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Trying to put his own efforts in a positive light, Trump noted that without his mitigation guidelines, models show the death toll could have reached 2.2 million. ‘You would have had people dying all over the place’, he said. Trump denied earlier downplaying the virus and dismissed critics who said he should be more willing to deliver bad news. ‘This is really easy to be negative about, but I want to give people hope, too.’
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