Trump scraps Republican convention in Florida due to coronavirus
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was scrapping next month's Republican Party nominating convention in Jacksonville, Florida, because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Mr Trump, speaking at a White House press conference, said it was not the right time to do a "big, crowded convention."
"The timing for this event is not right, it's just not right with what's happened recently," he said.
Mr Trump said convention events would be held "online in some form."
He said Republican delegates who will nominate him as the party's candidate in November's election against Democrat Joe Biden will gather in North Carolina for a "reasonably quick meeting."
The main reason for cancelling the Jacksonville event was "safety," he said.
GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
"I could see the media saying 'Oh, this is very unsafe,'" Mr Trump added.
"It's hard for us to say we should have a lot of people packed into a room and then other people shouldn't do it," he said. "There's nothing more crowded than a convention.
"I think we're setting an example by doing it."
The Republican convention had been scheduled to be held in Jacksonville from August 24-27.
Florida has recently experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases, which topped four million in the United States on Thursday.
AFP
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
International
BOE reports record usage of short-term liquidity repo
Philippines central bank not seeing rate hike despite peso weakness: finmin
Middle East tensions threaten global progress on inflation: World Bank
Heatstroke kills 30 in Thailand this year as South-east Asia bakes
Thailand to appoint former energy executive Pichai as finance minister, sources say
Consumer gulf widens as demand for premium and budget foods grows