DNA

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has worn a mask in public for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The president was visiting the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington, where he met wounded soldiers and health care workers.

“I’ve never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place,” he said as he left the White House.

He has previously said that he would not wear a mask and mocked Democratic rival Joe Biden for doing so.

But on Saturday he said: “I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”