TRUMP ENJOYS GOLF SESSION AS TOLL NEARS 100K

WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump kicked off the start of the American summer season on Saturday with his first golf outing in two months even as the US death toll neared the grim 100,000 mark.

As the US marked Memorial Day weekend - the country’s unofficial start of summer Trump took a 35-minute drive from the White House to the Trump National club in Sterling, Virginia, in his first visit to a golf property since March 8.

On Sunday Trump said he had completed his course of treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he had promoted as a therapy for coronavirus despite an outcry from medical professionals about its unproven efficacy and potential side effects.

“Finished, just finished,” Trump said in an interview on Sinclair Broadcast Group programme that was taped on Friday and aired on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Americans excited about what for many was their first big break from coronavirus shutdowns flocked to beaches and outdoor areas on Saturday.

In Destin, Florida, The Back Porch, a surfside restaurant on Henderson Beach, was full. The restaurant was operating at 50% seating capacity to ensure that chairs and umbrellas could be placed six feet apart, and newcomers had to wait for places to become free before they could enter.

In Arizona, holiday travellers flooded Interstate-17, causing a 15-mile backup on the roadway used for access to some of the desert’s most beautiful canyons.

Some recreation areas, including Saguaro Lake, became so crowded that authorities had to shut them down.

While the Memorial Day holiday that honours the US military dead is on Monday, the weekend leading up to it marks the unofficial start of summer, with Americans traditionally enjoying picnics and barbecues.