Donald Trump’s initial response to the coronavirus crisis was to play down its significance and tell the public that the approaching warmer weather was likely to see an end to the virus. But since then his tone has markedly changed and he has declared a national emergency.

The Guardian’s world affairs editor Julian Borger tells Rachel Humphreys that delays and faults with the US coronavirus testing system has set the response back considerably. Now, as the pandemic takes hold, the country is battling to keep its economy afloat with a possible trillion-dollar stimulus as entire industries fight for survival.

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Donald Trump has moved from dismissing coronavirus as similar to the winter flu that would disappear in the spring to declaring a national emergency. But did his administration’s initial response waste valuable time? World affairs editor Julian Borger reports from Washington DC

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