Trump predicts ‘a lot of death’ to come

US President Donald Trump has warned Americans against preparing for the "hardest week" of the Corona virus epidemic, so far, anticipating an increase in the number of deaths.

In his daily briefing, Trump said, "There will be death" in a grim assessment for the coming days.

He sought to reassure the most affected countries, promising medical and military supplies to fight the virus.

But in contrast to his warning, Trump suggested easing the far-reaching guidelines for Easter.

"We have to open our country again," Trump told a news conference at the White House on Saturday. "We don't want to do that for months, months, months."

Trump's calls to relax restrictions came on the day the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the U.S. exceeded 300,000, the highest in the world.

As of Saturday, there were approximately 8,500 Covid-19 deaths in the United States, mostly in New York State.

New York State recorded another 630 deaths, another daily record that raises the death toll to 3565. The state now has almost as many cases - more than 113,000 - like the whole of Italy, one of the countries most affected by coronaviruses.

President Trump has given a candid assessment of what awaits the United States in the coming weeks.

Trump said: "Maybe this will be the most difficult week between this week and next week, and there will be many deaths, unfortunately, but death is much less than if it had not been done."

To support the countries, Trump said his administration would deploy "an enormous amount of military personnel, thousands of soldiers, medical personnel, and professionals."

He said the soldiers would be informed "soon" of their duties, adding that "a thousand soldiers" would be deployed in New York City.

Trump also addressed his use of the Defense Production Act, a Korean war era law that gives him powers to control the production and supply of medical products made in the United States.

He said he was "very disappointed" by 3M, an American company that does face masks, saying it "should take care of our country" rather than selling to others.

But he rejected accusations that the United States had committed a "modern piracy" act by redirecting 200,000 masked masks to Germany for its own use.

On the issue of loosening social distance, Trump has repeated a familiar topic.

"The treatment could not be worse than the problem itself," Trump said, expressing the hope that the rules would be relaxed on Easter.

Returning to the idea that "treatment could not be worse than the problem," President Trump again revealed his frustration that America is still in deadlock.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to get people out of their homes and return to work.

While believing the virus should be eliminated quickly, Trump restated his view that more people could die due to measures taken to reduce the impact of Covid-19 than the disease itself.

He warned that some difficult decisions should be taken. "We cannot let this continue," he added, referring to the nation's stagnation. "We will not destroy our country."