“At the right time we may do that,” Trump said at a news conference.
“Right now it’s not the right time.”
He said the US was checking “a lot of people” for signs of the virus, but that an outbreak in the nation wasn’t inevitable.
The president’s optimism about containing the pathogen contradicted a senior health official in his own administration and came as authorities said they had identified the first case of unknown origin in the US.
Meanwhile, Italy’s foreign minister has said misinformation is damaging the country as he tries to calm a growing coronavirus panic.
Luigi Di Maio said the outbreak had become an “infodemic” and was damaging Italy’s “scientific community, image and economy”.
“Without wanting to minimise the situation, just over 10 towns out of 7904 are involved,” Di Maio said.
“And all of the cases we are finding outside of this radius are attributable to the outbreaks in the Lombardy and Veneto regions.”
Italy on Thursday announced 17 deaths from the coronavirus, while confirmed cases in the country have risen to 650.
Most of the deceased were elderly and some had pre-existing medical conditions.
