A doctor and former Trump administration official on Fox News has slammed a White House coronavirus task force official for refusing to answer whether the US health system will have enough ventilators to respond to the growing threat of the epidemic in coming weeks and months as the virus spreads.

The doctor, Michael Osterholm, had just watched a clip with the cable network’s host Tucker Carlson, who had asked Seema Verma about the ventilators.

Ms Verma — who had likewise dodged questions like those in interviews on other news networks — did not provide a definitive answer to the question on American preparedness, even as concerns have been raised that the COVID-19 could overwhelm the American health system.

“Let me just make a comment that I’ve never made in a public interview before. I’ve served in the last five presidential administrations, just most recently as a science envoy for the State Department in the Trump administration,” Dr Osterholm said.

He continued: “And I have to say, having heard that conversation you just had scares me terribly. That was one of the most incompetent and absolutely incoherent responses to what’s going on right now. And I take no assurance from what I just heard that somebody is in charge in [Health and Human Services] right now in this level with this issue.”

Dr Osterholm said that the US is “terribly underprepared” for the virus outbreak, which has infected at least 2,177 people across the country.

“We’re in a fight against this virus. We don’t have time for double talk. We need straight talk,” he said.

Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to address the outbreak, and has implemented a ban on Europeans travelling to the United States for the coming month.