New York governor says had "productive" meeting with Trump over COVID-19
CGTN
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo addresses a press briefing on COVID-19 on Wednesday, 22 April, 2020.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo addresses a press briefing on COVID-19 on Wednesday, 22 April, 2020.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday "went well" and their conversation on the COVID-19 pandemic was "productive."

"It has to be a real partnership and I think we had a very good conversation," he said.

"The state should determine where tests are taken and how they're allocated ... But we need help from the federal government to make the supply chain work for the manufacturers, on these reagents, on the test kits, et cetera," said the governor.

The two leaders have on many occasions differed on the COVID-19 war, each accusing the other of not doing enough to tackle the spread of the disease.

According to Cuomo, he and the president agreed to join efforts in realizing the "aggressive goal" of doubling the current rate of testing in New York, which is 20,000 a day.

The governor also said he told President Trump about the need for states to get funding from the federal government as "the states are in desperate shape."

He also said he informed the president that his state no longer needed the Navy hospital ship Comfort docked by the west side of Manhattan, because there were now adequate beds after passing the plateau recently.

"If they (the federal government) need to deploy it somewhere else they should take it," he said.

New York is the epicenter of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak having recorded over 14,800 deaths, more than 32 percent of the total fatalities in the country.

More than 830,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive for the disease.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency