Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump said Friday he was declaring a national emergency -- "two very big words" -- to free up $50 billion in federal resources to combat coronavirus even as he refused to take personal responsibility for administration failures early in the outbreak. "Through a very collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination, we will overcome the threat of the virus," he said. White House aides have been weighing the move for the past several days as a way to provide more resources for combating the coronavirus outbreak . The emergency declaration would free up funding and allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to head certain aspects of the outbreak response. Patty Murray of Washington state and Gary Peters of Michigan, sent a letter asking Trump to "immediately" consider disaster declaration requests for the coronavirus.

Source: CNN March 13, 2020 16:18 UTC