Trump signs $8.3B bill to fight coronavirus outbreak

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an $8.3 billion emergency funding bill Friday to fight the coronavirus outbreak, as the number of infections with the virus is nearing 100,000.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere announced that Trump signed the Coronavirus Supplemental funding bill before departing the White House for the U.S. state of Tennessee.

"The funding, which the president requested, will accelerate development of a vaccine and assist with response efforts," Deere said on Twitter.

The death toll from the epidemic reached at least 14 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday a day after it was approved by the House of Representatives. It aims to help local and federal authorities combat the deadly outbreak.

First detected in Wuhan, China in December, the disease, also known as COVID-19 now is present in over 87 countries worldwide.

The global death toll has crossed 3,300, with more than 97,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Notably, some 52,000 patients who contracted the virus recovered.

The WHO, which declared the outbreak an international health emergency, recently updated the global risk level to very high.