U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that 5.1 million people in the country have been tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Pence was joined by U.S. President Donald Trump and Stephen Hahn, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for a daily briefing on the government’s response to the pandemic.

Earlier in the day, Trump addressed comments he made Thursday in which he floated the idea of injecting disinfectant or shining light inside the body to kill the virus. He claimed he was being “sarcastic” when he made the statements.

The president declined to answer any further follow-up questions during the briefing on Friday evening.

Hahn added Friday that there are no approved therapeutics for COVID-19, but said there are 72 ongoing trials of potential treatments for the disease.

There are over 890,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. according to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and deaths in the country have surpassed 51,000.

MORE: https://globalnews.ca/news/6862555/coronavirus-disinfectant-donald-trump/

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