Coronavirus: Trump warns pandemic will get worse before it gets better

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the coronavirus pandemic would get worse before it got better as he embraced the wearing of a face mask and called on Americans to do the same.

In a noticeably softer tone, Trump said the coronavirus “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better - something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is.”

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Trump was speaking during a White House coronavirus briefing, which he previously conducted daily. After a brief absence of the briefings, Trump has said he will return to holding them daily.

“Some areas of our country are doing very well,” Trump said. “Others are doing less well.”

He said there had been a “concerning rise in (virus) cases in many parts of our South.”

The US president also called on younger Americans to avoid large, indoor gatherings and “packed bars.”

He said that wearing a face mask, “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact.”

“They will have an effect and we need everything we can get,” Trump said.

Continuing his criticism of China for not containing what he called the “China virus,” Trump said vaccines are coming “a lot sooner than anyone thought possible.”

Trump said the goal is “not merely to manage the pandemic but to end it.”

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- With AP