Trump suggest ‘consequences’ if China knew of COVID-19

WASHINGTON

There should be consequences for China if it was "knowingly responsible" for the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday.

Speaking at White House coronavirus task force news conference, Trump lamented worldwide suffering from the virus.

"If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," said Trump.

The pandemic "could have been stopped in China. Before it started and it wasn't. And the whole world is suffering because of it," he added.

Asked if he would be angry at Beijing, Trump said he might be but added it would depend if it was a mistake that got out of control or deliberate action.

"In either event they should have let us go in," he added.

On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of blocking access to a laboratory in Chinese city of Wuhan, which might reportedly be the source of the outbreak.

The top U.S. diplomat said the world has the pandemic because Beijing and the World Health Organization failed to provide information about the virus on time.

As of Saturday, the U.S. has 734,552 coronavirus cases and 38,835 deaths. More than 66,500 have recovered from the disease.

Overall, the virus has spread to 185 countries, infecting more than 2.3 million patients, and killing an excess of 160,500 worldwide since it first emerged in Wuhan late last year.