President Donald Trump said on Thursday the US economy might take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak but predicted the challenge would eventually pass and defended his handling of the crisis.

Asked if the coronavirus outbreak hurt the economy, Trump said: “It certainly might have an impact. At the same time, I have to say people are now staying in the United States spending their money in the US, and I like that.” “It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm,” he said. “We have plans for every single possibility and I think that’s what we have to do. We hope it doesn’t last too long.” Trump repeated his assertion that the travel restrictions he imposed on China early in the crisis had helped limit the outbreak in the United States.

The US death toll from the coronavirus rose to 12 on Thursday and 53 new cases broke out across the country.. More than 3,200 people worldwide have died from the respiratory illness that can lead to pneumonia.

“I think people are viewing us as having done a very good job. What we have to do is do a professional job. Nobody is blaming us for the virus,” he said. “This started in China.” The US Senate on Thursday passed an $8.3 billion bill to combat the outbreak, a day after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved it. The bill now goes to Trump for his signature.

Trump also weighed in on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to face him in the Nov. 3 election. That contest took a sharp turn on Super Tuesday this week, with former Vice President Joe Biden surging ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders in what has become a two-man battle.

“I was all set for Bernie,” Trump said, adding that Sanders would have benefited if fellow liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren had dropped out sooner. She withdrew from the race on Thursday.

Democratic moderates, including former presidential candidates Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, have rallied behind Biden in recent days amid concerns that nominating Sanders, a self-avowed democratic socialist, would harm the party’s chances in November.