US President Donald Trump has ordered senior administration officials to help Italy tackle the new Corona virus, by providing it with medical, humanitarian and other assistance.
Trump, in a memo to several ministers, ordered a variety of measures to help Italy, including putting US military personnel in the country on standby to provide telemedicine services, and helping establish field hospitals and transport supplies.
"The Italian Republic, which is one of our closest and oldest allies, is being destroyed by (Covid 19), which has already killed more than 18,000 people, has left most of Italy's health care system on the verge of collapse, and threatens to push Italy's economy into a deep recession," Trump said in the memo.
Italy has recorded about 19,000 deaths as a result of "Covid-19", the disease caused by the Corona virus, more than any other country.
Trump ordered the Secretary of Commerce to encourage American suppliers to sell products ordered by the authorities and healthcare providers in Italy, with the exception of products necessary for the United States to respond to the pandemic.
The memo said that the Secretary of State, the President of the United States Agency for International Development and the President of the American Export-Import Bank "may use the available powers to support the recovery of the Italian economy."
On the other hand, the American President stated that his country would have lost millions of lives if the country's leadership had followed the example of Sweden and kept stores, bars and schools open during the Corona pandemic, according to the Bloomberg News Agency reported yesterday.
When asked at a press conference on Friday whether he regretted that some institutions and leisure activities such as Sweden were not left open, Trump replied, "We could have followed this approach." "If we had followed this trend, I think we might have millions of deaths," Trump said.
The US President: “We would have lost millions of lives because of Corona, if we had followed the example of Sweden.”