Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
President Trump announced today that he plans to travel to Puerto Rico — which he said was "literally destroyed" and "hit as hard as you can hit" — next Tuesday to view firsthand the devastation from Hurricane Maria.
On the difficulty of sending aid to Puerto Rico: "It's very tough because it's an island...an island sitting in the middle of an ocean — and it's a big ocean. It's a very big ocean."
President Trump with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at the White House in September. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Trump administration sent a letter to Congress Monday requesting a funding commitment of at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Details: The request for a lump sum account for the Department of Health and Human Services includes $1.25 billion in new funds to fight COVID-19 and $535 would come from untouched funds for the Ebola virus.
The World Health Organization will not yet call the coronavirus a pandemic, claiming that needs across affected countries are too varied and the classification would increase fear, per a briefing Monday.
The big picture: As South Korea and Italy stepped up emergency measures in efforts to thwart the spread of the virus, WHO expressed concern about infections with no clear link to China. COVID-19 has killed at least 2,620 people and infected almost 80,000 others, with all but 27 deaths occurring in mainland China.
Taking precaution, in the Philippines. Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
The coronavirus is spreading quickly in cities nowhere near Wuhan, China, and the window to prevent a global pandemic is narrowing.
Zoom in: Here's a look at what comes with a coronavirus outbreak in communities outside China that have been hardest hit so far.