Trump news: President claims victory over coronavirus and says he's reopening in Easter because 'it's a beautiful time' - not on expert advice

Dr Anthony Fauci isn't at Trump's town hall - but POTUS says they're 'fine'

Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci, who serves as a public-facing member of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, has defended his relationship with the president in a new interview about the White House administration's response to the pandemic.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases cleared the air on Tuesday after reports on palace intrigue and alleged friction between him and Mr Trump received national media attention throughout the week. 

“When I’ve made suggestions he’s taken them. He’s never countered or overridden me — the idea of pitting one against the other is just not helpful,” the doctor said in an interview with WMAL's Morning on the Mall. “I wish that would stop and we’d look ahead at the challenge we have to pull together to get over this thing.”

Racism inspired by terms like Trump's 'Chinese virus' causes spike in hate crimes, activists say

The Independent's Andrew Buncombe has more: Hundreds of Asian Americans have been violently attacked in the last month because of 'China virus' racism voiced by Donald Trump and others, activists have claimed.

Amid criticisms that repeated use of the phrase “China virus” by Mr Trump and some of his top officials was racist, activists said they had seen violent attacks on Asian Americans increase in “leaps and bound” over the last three weeks.

This was in addition to verbal abuse, slurs and other racist rhetoric, members of the community suffered.

Trump hits out at New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo

The president appeared to attack New York's governor during the coronavirus pandemic. Here's more:

   center no-repeat #999999;cursor:pointer;top:-8px; border-radius: 2px;">↵

Louisiana set to become 'the next Italy' 

The Independent's Alex Woodward has more: Within the first two weeks of March, Louisiana had "the fastest growth rate" of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, as the governor warns that the state could become "the next Italy" unless dramatic containment efforts are supported by immediate federal aid. 

The state has confirmed more than 1,300 confirmed Covid-19 cases and at least 46 deaths, as of Tuesday, with roughly half of all cases coming from New Orleans and neighbouring Jefferson Parish.

With a population of fewer than 400,000 people, the rate of infection in New Orleans rivals counties across New York state despite having a fraction of the population. New Orleans also has more than double the number of total cases than all of Los Angeles county, which is more than 20 times larger.

House Speaker signals confidence in bipartisan relief bill

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Tuesday she was confident a deal between Republicans and Democrats on the coronavirus pandemic would soon be reached, but that a vote would likely have to take place on Wednesday. 

Trump banks second term on a low coronavirus death toll

The Independent's John Bennet has more: Donald Trump appeared restless, agitated and fed up. He gestured wildly, his arms repeatedly stretched to the side or aggressively in front of him as he stood behind the lectern Monday night in the sparsely populated White House briefing room. He was tired of precautions. It was time to follow the same instincts that put him there.

Gone was last week's measured and stoic president, replaced with the combative commander in chief persona that has defined his nearly five years as a professional politician. Gone was the CEO-in-chief who for five days delegated answers to technical questions to his public health experts, replaced by the chief executive with all the answers – based on his own hunches – that put his own re-election needs over cold, hard science.

"This is going away," the president declared boldly just hours after his hand-picked surgeon general told the country "this week, it's going to get bad."

Trump's speech notes scratch off the term 'Chinese virus'

The president appeared to forego calling Covid-19 the "Chinese virus" during a statement from the White House last night, instead calling on Americans to reject hate and violence against Asians amid a spike in reported hate crimes during the coronavirus pandemic:

Trump calls price transparency 'so important' as Senate negotiates coronavirus bill

The president signalled his support for the inclusion of price transparency in the coronavirus relief package, writing in a tweet: "Hopefully it will be approved!"

Stocks rally as coronavirus stimulus bill nears approval 

US stock markets rebounded on Tuesday amid rumours that an economic stimulus package to deal with the impact of the coronavirus was nearing approval. 

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday morning that there was “real optimism” that a deal could be reached soon. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 11.4 percent in response to the news, rebounding from a three year low.