New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press conference to discuss the first positive case of novel coronavirus or COVID-19 in New York State on March 2, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by AFP)

The New York governor has lashed out at Donald Trump for insistence on the reopening of US economy and states closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the US president appears to be spoiling for a fight over the issue.

Andrew Cuomo made the comment on Tuesday in response to an earlier tweet by Trump that called out Democrat Governors and claimed he had total authority in regard to lockdown rules across the country.

Cuomo said the president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue, but added that this is no time for any division between the federal and state governments.

This is no time for politics and it is no time to fight, the New York governor said at his daily briefing on the state’s response to the new coronavirus. If he wants a fight he’s not going to get it from me.

Cuomo went on to say that he looks forward to working with the president in partnership and cooperation, but he has no fight here. I won’t let it happen. And look, unless he suggested that we do something that would be reckless and endanger the health or welfare of the people of the state, then I would have no choice. But shy of that, I put my hand out to say: Let’s do this together.

Cuomo underlined in his daily briefing that 778 more people have died in New York from the deadly flu-like pathogen, which is up from 671 deaths in the state the day before.

That number is up, and that is to me the most painful number, and it has been the most painful number every day, he said, adding that the more than 10,000 New Yorkers who have lost their lives to the virus were not 10,000 Democrats or 10,000 Republicans; These were 10,000 people Period.

Cuomo and the governors of several other eastern US states announced on Monday that they would join forces to coordinate the reopening of the region and its economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Confirmed US COVID-19 cases have been said to be 581,679 and 23,604 deaths have been reported across the country so far, with many Americans blaming Trump for a late response to the pandemic and the rising death toll.

Public health experts have expressed alarm that the US death toll could reach 200,000 over the summer if stay-at-home directives were lifted as they are to expire at the end of April.

This is while Trump says he wants to reopen the country by next month despite concerns from both economists and health experts who assert that reopening the country prematurely could severely reverse some of the progress the country has made in battling the coronavirus.

US officials have warned Americans to expect alarming numbers of coronavirus deaths this week.

Moreover, the White House is seeking to deflect criticism of its own sluggish response to the COVID-19 crisis by putting too much emphasis on the virus’s likely origins in China, with Trump and other US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, referring to the coronavirus as the Chinese virus.

There have been nearly two million confirmed cases of infection across the world, with the death toll surpassing 126,000 on Tuesday.

SOURCE: PRESS TV