The second wave of COVID-19 in the United States will be much worse as it is likely to coincide with the start of flu season in the country, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield on Tuesday.
"There is a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through," CDC Director Robert Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Post.
He said the US will have "the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time."
Speaking about widespread protests against stay-at-home orders, Redfield said: "It's not helpful." The president himself has tweeted encouragements of such protests, urging followers to "liberate Minnesota!" and "liberate Michigan!"
Meanwhile, Trump in the daily briefing on Tuesday also said that 20 states are preparing to reopen their economies soon amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Since we announced our guidelines on opening up America. 20 states representing 40 per cent of the US population have announced that they are making plans and preparations to safely restart their economies in the very near future," Trump said on Tuesday.
COVID-19 has infected more than 2.5 million people around the world. The US has reported as many as 823,000, cases with at least 44000 fatalities, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
( With inputs from ANI )