U.S. health official: protesters should be tested for coronavirus

A top U.S. health official cautioned that protests sweeping across the country could increase the spread of the novel coronavirus, particularly in cities that have struggled to control the outbreak, and that participants should "highly consider" getting tested.

Protests have occurred in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., where there has been significant transmission of the virus, Robert Redfield, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before a Congressional committee.

"Those individuals that have partaken in these peaceful protests or have been out protesting, and particularly if they’re in metropolitan areas that really haven’t controlled the outbreak...we really want those individuals to highly consider being evaluated and get tested," Redfield told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee.

"I do think there is a potential unfortunately for this to be a seeding event," he said, referring to spreading the virus.

Asked about the delay in widely available coronavirus testing long into the U.S. outbreak, Redfield pointed to corporate America.

"It took unfortunately weeks and weeks and weeks before the private sector stepped up and developed what we now have," he told the panel, noting that more than 17 million coronavirus tests have now been done in the United States.

Huge crowds have taken to the streets of dozens of cities since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody set off unrest that has roiled America in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters recalls.