Boris Johnson admitted to hospital - as it happened

We have launched a new blog at the link below, where we’ll be bringing you rolling coverage of developments in the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. Follow me there:

Thank you for the messages on Twitter so far, many have been helpful. I’m @helenrsullivan if you have questions or tips.

Tonight’s White House presser, summarized

Donald Trump held a press conference on Sunday evening to lay out what his administration has been doing to address the coronavirus and what the weeks ahead hold for the United States.

Here are some key points:

• Trump says he’s seeing glimmers of hope, “light at the end of the tunnel” thanks to work of medical workers and Americans’ social distancing.
• Fauci reiterated this is going to be a very bad week as the curve flattens, but that they hope that it will get better in the weeks after. After the peak, mitigation is key to make sure it doesn’t rebound.
• Trump repeatedly says Americans should try the untested drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus, said his administration has ordered 29m doses to be distributed across the United States.
• Fema is airlifitng supplies to affected states, including millions of masks, gloves, and sterile gowns.
• Trump took the opportunity to take digs at the governor of Illinois, CNN and a reporter from the Associated Press, calling CNN “fake news” for asking about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine and telling the AP reporter, “You should be thanking them, not always asking wise guy questions.”

Guatemala has asked the United States to limit the deportations of immigrants to the Central American country to 25 persons per plane due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Guatemalan Health Minister Hugo Monroy said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

The White House press briefing is over. We’ll post a summary shortly of what happened, and then I’ll be launching a new blog soon after that.

Dr. Fauci is asked why he’s not wearing a face mask. There are a couple of reasons:

“Part of the reason for wearing face masks is to protect you from infecting you – he gestures at reporters. I had my test yesterday and it was negative.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci is talking now about the seeming disconnect between the idea that there is a glimmer of hope and the week ahead being very bad.

“It has to do with the lag,” he says. What we’re seeing now is the result of what happened two and a half weeks ago. There is always going to be a lag of that much time.

“The only tool and the best tool we have is mitigation.”

More of the effects of hydroxychloroquine, the drug being touted by Trump as something that causes no harm, so “we might as well try,”. According to Australia’s Therapeutic Drugs Administration:

Well-known serious risks to patients including cardiac toxicity (potentially leading to sudden heart attacks), irreversible eye damage and severe depletion of blood sugar (potentially leading to coma)”

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia wrote to members urging them to “refuse the dispensing of hydroxychloroquine if there is not a genuine need”.

Trump is talking about how to build highways now, so we’ll go to news from Mexico for a moment, which is that there are now 2143 confirmed cases and 94 deaths.

That’s 253 more cases, up from 1890 cases yesterday, and 15 more deaths.

When asked if he will refrain from interacting with Pence to avoid the spread of coronavirus, Trump joked “I don’t breathe when I’m with him”.

Trump and Pence shared the stage for the entirety of questioning on Sunday.

Trump says of hydroxychloroquine: “It can help them but it’s not going to hurt them. What do you have to lose?”

Again, here is some of what people have to lose:

• Like many drugs, hydroxychloroquine comes with a number of potential side-effects. These include headaches, dizziness, stomach pain, weight loss and mood changes.
• A sudden surge in demand for hydroxychloroquine risks shortages of the drug for those who need it most. Hydroxychloroquine is able to keep lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, in check but some people with the condition have complained they are now unable to find Plaquenil. Trump’s pushing of the treatment has caused many Americans, whether they need it or not, to stock up on the drug.

“The faster we open our country the bigger the boom the bigger the rocket ship,” Trump says of the economy.

Dr. Deborah Birx is speaking now. She says she got modelling today that again shows 100,000 people will die. But “we believe, Dr. Fauci and I,” that if people follow the social distancing guidelines that number may be lower.

Trump jumps in to say the American people are doing a great job. Even New Yorkers and Californians.

Trump is being asked about the clinical trials in place looking at the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, and why he does not wait for science to confirm that it is safe. If it was safe and effective doctors could already prescribe it – it’s already on the market – so why aren’t they, if it’s definitely safe?

Because we’ll only know in about a year, year and a half, Trump says. “It may not work, in which case - Hey, it didn’t work – or it may save lives.”

“I don’t wait a year and a half to find out. And only CNN would ask that question. Fake news.”

Trump says the US has the greatest doctors, lab technicians, minds in the world, “everybody admits it”.