A healthcare worker outside the emergency center at Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, April 13, 2020 (Reuters)

The US Coronavirus case record and deaths both soar on Friday, as Donald Trump blames “more testing” and threatens the state of New York.

States reported 186,795 infections, shattering Thursday’s 152,194 with the seventh high mark in the past 10 days. The total of confirmed cases is now 10,739,616.

Sixteen states set daily case records on Friday, and 30 states have posted weekly records.

There were 1,922 fatalities, close to Wednesday’s 2,125. The death toll is now 244,345.

During his White House presentation of “Operation Warp Speed”, Donald Trump insisted that “case levels are high” because “we have the best testing program in the world”.

He and Vice President Mike Pence falsely took credit for the potential vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, and Trump rejected measures to contain the virus.

Venting his anger against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Trump threatened to withhold any vaccine from the state.

New York Attorney General Letitia James warned that she will file a lawsuit to prevent any denial of the vaccine:

This is nothing more than vindictive behavior by a lame-duck president trying to extract vengeance on those who oppose his politics.

Once there is a fully-developed Covid-19 vaccine, we are confident that a Biden-Harris Administration will provide New York with the proper number of doses so that our state’s residents can achieve immunity. If dissemination of the vaccine takes place in the twilight of a Trump Administration and the President wants to play games with people’s lives, we will sue and we will win.

In contrast to Trump’s approach, President-elect Joe Biden said in a statement about the necessity for “urgent action”: “Our country is experiencing surges in reported infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities all over the country, with virtually nowhere getting spared.”