US senator who knew about pandemic sold personal stocks

Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has sold his personal stocks worth over $2 million late February, right before coronavirus fears crippled U.S. stock markets in a wave of historic lows.

According to the report on U.S.-based news outlet NPR, North Carolina Senator Burr, also the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned his close circles three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic effects of the coronavirus, according to a secret recording obtained.

"Sen. Richard Burr sold personal stocks worth between $628,000 and $1.72 million in 33 separate transactions on Feb. 13, before the recent market volatility, public disclosures show," NPR said on its Twitter post.

"Asked by NPR for comment on the sales, his spokesperson replied: "lol."

"Lol" stands for 'laugh out loud" among American teenagers, and is used colloquially, not in formal occasions or texts.

NPR also reported that Burr warned his donors "13 days before the State Department began to warn against travel to Europe, and 15 days before the Trump administration banned European travelers."

"There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," he said, according to NPR.

"It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."

The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and has spread to at least 160 countries and territories. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic.

Out of more than 244,500 confirmed cases, the death toll now exceeds 10,000, and over 86,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who become infected suffer only mild symptoms and recover.