America will be at the mercy of the pandemic until August, says Trump

AMERICA could be stricken by coronavirus until August, President Donald Trump warned last night.

Having played down the threat for weeks, he finally announced unprecedented restrictions last night.

Americans were told to limit gatherings to ten people – whether indoors or outside – and avoid travelling.

Mr Trump said the outbreak could last until July or August and admitted for the first time that the US may be driven into recession by the pandemic.

He urged Americans not to go to bars, restaurants or food courts, said children should be schooled at home and older people should self-isolate.

The President said: ‘We’ve made the decision to further toughen the guidelines and blunt the infection now.

‘We’d much rather be ahead of the curve than behind it.

‘With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly.’ Asked how long it would take the pandemic to fade, he said: ‘So it seems to me that if we do a really good job... people are talking about July, August, something like that.

‘So it could be right in that period of time where it... washes through.’

Describing the virus as an ‘invisible enemy’, he added: ‘If everyone makes... these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and defeat the virus. We’re going to have a big celebration all together.’

The US government is considering taking over buildings to use as treatment centres, and using army engineers to build new hospitals, he said. But Mr Trump added that it would be ‘unnecessary’ to postpone November’s election.

His tough line failed to calm the plummeting US stock market, with the Dow Jones index closing down 13 per cent.

Until recently, the President has tried to downplay the coronavirus threat.

Just over a fortnight ago he predicted it would ‘disappear’ like a ‘miracle’.

But anxious Americans are panic-buying guns and ammunition as the pandemic stokes fears of civil unrest.

Queues snaked round the block at Martin B. Retting, a gun shop in Culver City, part of Los Angeles.

Resident Chloe Brennan said: ‘It’s as though people are preparing for the breakdown of society or civil war.’