US President Donald Trump wears mask for 1st time

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump was seen wearing a mask while visiting a military hospital near Washington, D.C., the first time he did so on camera since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the country.

"I'll probably have a mask," Trump told reporters on Saturday ahead of his trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he visited injured soldiers and medical workers tasked with containing the coronavirus, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I think when you're in a hospital especially in that particular setting, where you are talking to a lot of soldiers, people that in some cases just got off the operating table," the president said. "I think it's a great thing to wear a mask. I've never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place."

Trump has been refusing to wear a mask himself since the pandemic broke out, citing his good health and frequent negative tests for the virus. "I have no problem with a mask. I don't think you need one when you're tested all the time, everybody around you is tested, you're quite a distance," he said on Thursday.

Even Republican lawmakers have advised him to do so publicly so as to curb the spread of the contagion. (IANS) 

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