Pandemic Watch: U.S. COVID-19 cases top 120,000 with over 2,000 deaths. (Xinhua/Tan Yixiao, Hu Yousong)
"A quarantine will not be necessary,"said Trump.
NEW YORK, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he has dropped the idea of quarantining the New York state, the hardest-hit region by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, despite a rapid increase in confirmed cases.
"On the recommendation of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and upon consultation with the Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government," Trump said on Twitter on Saturday night.
"A quarantine will not be necessary," he said.
This file photo taken on Aug. 21, 2019, shows U.S. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Earlier in the day, Trump said he is considering a short-term quarantine for the state of New York as the situation of the coronavirus outbreak continued to get worse there.
The president told reporters outside the White House that in addition to New York, "enforceable quarantine" might also be imposed on New Jersey and parts of Connecticut to curb the spread of the virus, adding he will make a decision later in the day.
The confirmed cases in the United States have reached to over 122,000 as of Saturday night, up from about 101,600 of the previous day, with reports of more than 2,000 deaths, according to the tally from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
New York state has become the hardest-hit region in the country with more than 53,000 cases as of Saturday afternoon. New Jersey and California have registered 11,124 and 5,551 respectively.
A patient is transferred to Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn of New York, the United States, March 28, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
In response to Trump's suggestion of quarantine, Cuomo said at a news briefing on Saturday afternoon that he did not discuss the quarantine with the president.
"I haven't had those conversations," said Cuomo. "I don't even know what that means."
"I don't know how that could be legally enforceable, and from a medical point of view, I don't know what you would be accomplishing," he added. "Not even understanding what it is, I don't like the sound of it.
Meanwhile, the governor said the state's presidential primary election would be rescheduled for June 23 from April 28, aligning it with the congressional and legislative primaries in New York.
"We are continuing to advance emergency measures that reduce density as much as possible, and to that end we are going to delay the presidential primary election until June because it's not wise to be bringing large numbers of people to one place to vote," he said.
A patient is transferred to Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn of New York, the United States, March 28, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
Three new sites will be serving as places for emergency beds, said Cuomo, including South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island, Westchester Square in the Bronx and Health Alliance in Ulster County, which will add 695 more hospital beds.
The governor also announced that the first 1,000-bed temporary hospital at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is expected to open on Monday.
Both the new sites and the makeshift hospital are part of Cuomo's plan to bolster the state's existing hospital capacity, which are expected to be well below the need when the state's apex of COVID-19 comes.
The state is also preparing college dormitories and hotels and identifying nursing homes and other facilities to serve as places for emergency beds, according to the governor.
(Article by Xinhua Reporters Chang Yuan, Sun Ding and Deng Xianlai) ■
