(CNN) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s presidential primary election will be postponed from April 28 until June 23 amid coronavirus fears.
“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said Saturday during a news conference. He also extended the state’s tax filing deadline to July 15.
Over 52,000 people have been confirmed to have Covid-19 across New York, Cuomo said. The state has tested a total of 155, 934 people.
The US surpassed Italy and China this week to become the country with the most coronavirus cases in the world with more than 102,963 known cases, according to CNN’s tally. At least 1,590 people have died in the US, with at least 402 of those deaths reported on Friday alone.
More than a third of the country’s cases are in New York — which has been in a partial lockdown for a week as officials try to slow the spread of the virus and hospitals scramble to keep up with the patients streaming in.
The rate of new cases may be slowing in New York, but Cuomo has said it may take 21 days for the state to hit its peak and begin going down.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he is thinking about a possible “short-term, two week” quarantine for “New York, probably New Jersey and certain parts of Connecticut.”
Speaking at the White House, Trump said, “we might not have to do it, but there’s a possibility sometime today” he will enact a quarantine.”
Asked about Trump’s possible quarantine comments at Saturday’s news conference, Cuomo said he and the President had not talked about it.
The governor went on to say he didn’t know what such a quarantine would mean.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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