Trump 'all for' China medical gear support

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he sees it as "positive" that China is shipping its medical supplies to help other countries battle the coronavirus pandemic.

"I view that as a positive if they're helping other countries," Trump told reporters when asked to comment on China's donating or selling personal protective equipment to large numbers of countries in recent weeks now that the disease has been brought under control in China.

"We have 151 countries right now that are under siege by the virus," with some doing really badly, not knowing about social distancing, or are not "highly sophisticated" in dealing with the outbreak, Trump said at a White House coronavirus task force daily briefing.

"If China can help them, I'm all for it," Trump said. "I would love China and other countries if they have additional supplies, medical supplies, to give to other countries."

In addition to ensuring the health of 1.4 billion Chinese people, Beijing is also providing medical supplies to countries in need, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

The country has provided 120 countries and four international organizations with surgical masks, N95 respirators, protective suits, nucleic acid test kits, ventilators and other assistance, she said at a regular news briefing.

In addition, local governments donated medical items to their sister cities in more than 50 countries, and Chinese companies made donations to more than 100 countries and international organizations. By Tuesday, 30 countries and two international organizations had signed purchase contracts with Chinese exporters on masks, protective suits and nucleic acid test kits, according to Hua.

When asked if he had received an intelligence report that talked about the discrepancy in the COVID-19 numbers in China, Trump said "we have not received" any intelligence reports showing that China underreported its coronavirus numbers, though he said the numbers "seem to be a little bit on the light side".

"As to whether or not their numbers are accurate, I'm not an accountant from China," Trump said. "But we had a great call the other night, we're working together in a lot of different things including trade," he said, referring to the phone conversation he had with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday on anti-epidemic cooperation and bilateral ties.

"The relationship with China is a good one, and my relationship with him is really good," Trump said.

The president said he was considering a plan to halt domestic flights to coronavirus hot spots inside the US as a "hell of a bad two weeks" loom ahead with 100,000 to 240,000 people projected to die of COVID-19, even if social distancing guidelines are maintained.

"We're certainly looking at it, but once you do that you really are clamping down on an industry that is desperately needed," Trump said.

"When you start closing up entire transportation systems and then opening them up, that's a very tough thing to do," he said.

But Trump said he will not issue a national stay-at-home order even as coronavirus cases are still surging in the country, on grounds that different states have different levels of cases.

The number of confirmed cases surged past 213,300 by 10 pm ET Wednesday, with 4,757 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

"States are different and I understand that the governor of Florida, great Governor Ron DeSantis issued one today and that's good, that's great," Trump said. DeSantis joined a slew of other states in directing residents to limit movements and all personal interactions outside the home to those that are necessary.

"But there are some states that are different. There are some states that don't have much of a problem," Trump said.

"You have to look — you have to give a little flexibility. If you have a state in the Midwest, or if Alaska for example doesn't have a problem, it's awfully tough to say close it down. We have to have a little bit of flexibility," Trump said at the briefing.