New York's virus toll surges to single-day high

Trump continued to defend his actions in the early days of the crisis, playing down memos written by Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser, that were made public this week.

Navarro sent a memo in late January warning that the novel coronavirus could create a pandemic, The New York Times reported. A second memo, written in late February and sent to the president, said it could kill up to 2 million Americans.

Trump said he was not aware of the memos in January, but that he had taken steps in line with some of their recommendations. He also said he would not have wanted to act prematurely when it was not clear how dire the situation would become.

"I don't want to create havoc and shock and everything else. I'm not going to go out and start screaming, 'This could happen, this could happen,'" Trump said.

Also on Tuesday, the acting secretary of the US Navy, Thomas Modly, resigned over his handling of the firing of a captain on a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier who had sent a memo warning of an outbreak on the ship.

The turmoil began after a virus outbreak forced the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was deployed in the Pacific Ocean, to dock in Guam and begin quarantining its sailors.

Brett Crozier, then the aircraft carrier's captain, had sent a letter asking for help from Navy leadership on March 30. Modly fired Crozier three days later over his decision to email the letter to several Navy personnel rather than using official, secured channels. Modly said Crozier was "too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this".

Modly apologized on Monday night: "Let me be clear, I do not think (Crozier) is naive nor stupid," he said in a statement. "I think, and always believed him to be the opposite. We pick our carrier commanding officers with great care."

Pan Mengqi in Beijing and agencies contributed to this story.

aiheping@chinadaily.com