“I will not – this administration will not be doing a lockdown,” Trump said during a speech at the White House about vaccine development efforts. “Hopefully whatever happens in the future – who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell.”
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Trump added that his administration will be “very vigilant and very careful” but not impose a lockdown under any circumstances.
During a short speech about the vaccine work, Trump insisted that he would never again call for a lockdown to curb the virus' spread.
The hint of doubt in Trump's mind came despite him continuing to push a conspiracy theory that mass fraud -- for which no evidence exists -- robbed him of victory in the November 3 election.
Trump has refused to commit transfer of power to Joe Biden in January
Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and filed a flurry of lawsuits in the last few days to challenge the election outcome.
On Thursday, US federal officials rejected Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 elections, and said that the polls were the “most secure in American history”. They said that there was no evidence to show that the election process had been compromised.
Biden, meanwhile, began taking over the White House earlier this week. He also named a task force to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Biden’s campaign said that former US surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr David Kessler will be co-chairs of the working group.