Trump honours Pakistani-American girl as corona crisis hero

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump honoured a 10-year-old Pakistani-American girl scout along with other coronavirus crisis heroes for helping the people on the frontlines during the crisis.

Laila Khan is from Maryland was recognised as a coronavirus hero as she has donated cookies to nurses and firefighters. She was also acknowledged by the US embassy in Pakistan on their social media accounts.

President Trump awarded her with a letter of recognition on May 15 during the ceremony. Laila and two other scouts donated 100 boxes of girl scout cookies to local medical workers and firefighters, accompanied by personalised cards for them.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid tribute to several American heroes who are helping on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis including Girl Scouts from Maryland.

“The men and women we honour today remind us that the bonds that unite us in times of hardship can also raise us to new heights as we reopen and recover and rebuild,” the president said in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

Among the honorees was Amy Ford, a nurse from Williamson, West Virginia, who travelled to New York to work in a hospital besieged with COVID-19 patients.

“For the past 42 days, she’s been working 12-hour shifts in the intensive care units of Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn,” Mr. Trump said. “Amy has been serving the coronavirus patients around the clock, and she once held the hand of an elderly patient all night long, just so the woman would not feel alone.”

Ford spoke of times of trial and error, and a lot of prayer.“This experience has been one of the emotionally challenging things I’ve ever been through, but it has made me a better person in the end,” she said. “This virus may have initially caught our great nation off guard, but we will overcome this and we will prevail,” she said.

New York City Police Sgt. Spencer Garrett contracted the disease and spent a month fighting it. Now he distributes masks to residents in the East Harlem neighbourhood that he patrols.