White House confirms disbanding Covid-19 task force

US President Donald Trump announced to wind down the White House coronavirus task force as a part of his recent makeshift to reopen the country's economy as soon as possible.

According to Vice-President Mike Pence, it could be as early as within a few weeks, reports BBC.

Despite, new confirmed infections per day in the US currently top 20,000, and daily deaths exceed 1,000. Trump announced this while visiting a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona saying, "We are bringing our country back,"

US health officials has warned the virus may spread as businesses begin to reopen.

During a visit to the plant in Phoenix after weeks holed up at the White House, Trump told journalists, "Mike Pence and the task force have done a great job, but we're now looking at a little bit of a different form, and that form is safety and opening. And we'll have a different group probably set up for that."

The president - who wore safety goggles but no face mask during his tour of the facility - was asked if it was "mission accomplished", and he said, "No, not at all. The mission accomplished is when it's over."

Critics have accused the president of sacrificing Americans' public health in his eagerness to reopen the US economy ahead of his re-election battle in November.

Acknowledging a human cost to the plans, Mr Trump told reporters, "I'm not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon."

The president was also asked if White House task force experts Dr Deborah Birx and Dr Anthony Fauci would still be involved in efforts to address the coronavirus.

"They will be and so will other doctors and so will other experts in the field," the president answered.

Vice President Mike Pence, who led this taskforce said earlier on Tuesday in a briefing, "Trump adinistration is looking at the Memorial Day [late May] window, early June window as a time when we could begin to transition back to having our agencies begin to manage, begin to manage our national response in a more traditional manner".

"It is a reflection of the tremendous progress we've made as a country" he added.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later tweeted that the president "will continue his data-driven approach towards safely re-opening".