Schools, houses of worship and large gathering places in the New York suburb that has the 'largest cluster' of coronavirus cases in the country will be shut down as the National Guard is being brought in to help stop the spread of the disease.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday that a one-mile containment area will be set up in New Rochelle in Westchester County where the main cluster of coronavirus have been reported.

The area is the epicenter of of the state's coronavirus outbreak and accounts for more than 100 of New York's 173 confirmed cases.

The radius centers around the Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue that was attended by Manhattan attorney Lawrence Garbuz who has been linked to the outbreak in the area.

The shutdown, which will begin on Thursday and last for two weeks, will effect all 'major gathering places' including schools and places of worship, Cuomo said.

'It is a dramatic action, but it is the largest cluster in the country. And this is literally a matter of life and death,' Cuomo said.

The announcement about the containment area came as New Jersey reported its first coronavirus death. It is the first fatality in the tri-state area.

This map shows the schools, churches and synagogues in a one-mile radius of Young Israel New Rochelle, which is at the center of the coronavirus cluster

The family of New York lawyer Lawrence Garbuz, who is hospitalized with coronavirus, says they're hopeful he'll make a full recovery. Lawrence Garbuz is pictured above with wife Adina Lewis Garbuz who spoke out publicly this week

Lawrence Garbuz, a 50-year-old attorney from Westchester County, was hospitalized with the contagious disease on February 27 and has infected his children, wife, neighbor, a friend and other family member with the virus

Cuomo said he was calling in the National Guard to the containment area to assist with cleaning public spaces and to deliver food to homes where people are currently self-quarantined.

Health officials said they are still trying to determine a full list of places that will be forced to close within the containment area.

The schools that will close include New Rochelle High School, Albert Leonard Middle School and William B. Ward Elementary.

The closures will not effect smaller businesses and grocery stores, officials said.

Cuomo said people will not be contained and residents are free to come and go with the one-mile radius.

The state and a private health system, Northwell Health, are also setting up a testing facility in the area.

New Rochelle is at the center of an outbreak of 108 cases in Westchester County out of 173 statewide as of Tuesday.

New York City has 36 cases, while its population is more than 100 times that of New Rochelle.

'New Rochelle at this point is probably the largest cluster in the U.S. of these cases and it is a significant issue for us,' Cuomo said.

Manhattan lawyer Lawrence Gurbiz was confirmed as a positive case of coronavirus, and has been linked to at least 108 cases in the Westchester area. They include his family, friends and a neighbor who drove him to hospital. Many of the other people confirmed positive attended Young Israel of New Rochelle before Gurbiz was tested and came into contact with him or other positive cases linked to him

People wait at the New Rochelle train station on Tuesday after Gov Cuomo revealed that officials will be implementing a one mile radius containment area there to try to halt the spread of coronavirus

Nicholas Walsh, of New Rochelle, wears a protective mask as he walks past the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue on Tuesday

HOW CORONAVIRUS CASES IN NEW YORK ARE LINKED TO MANHATTAN ATTORNEY: Manhattan attorney Lawrence Garbuz, 50, had recently returned to New York from a trip to Miami. His neighbor in New Rochelle drove him to the New York Presbyterian Lawrenence Hospital in Bronxville, New York on February 28 after he started having trouble breathing. Doctors initially just assumed he had pneumonia and he was put in a regular room before being moved to intensive care as he condition deteriorated. It took four days for him to be diagnosed with coronavirus on March 2. In that time, he had come into contact with dozens of doctors and other patients. Health officials immediately started to retrace his steps and started testing those he had come into contact with. In addition to hospital staff, it emerged he had come into contact with members of his Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, employees and his law firm and friends. His immediate family, including his wife, 20-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter all tested positive. The neighbor who drove him to the hospital also contracted the disease. It then emerged his friend's family of five, including three children, tested positive. Medical staff and the hospital, members of his law firm and attendees at the Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, of which Garbuz is a member, have also been confirmed as cases. Advertisement

'The numbers have been going up. The numbers continue to go up. The numbers are going up unabated. And we do need a special public health strategy for New Rochelle.'

New York Health Commissioner Dr Howard Zucker said officials were moving from a containment strategy to a mitigation strategy.

'When you're dealing with mitigation, you have to deal with the issues of social distancing and how people gather together and to try to minimize that.'

Cuomo said the decision was one made by Dr Zucker and other public health officials.

'It's not a decision that I'm making. I'm accepting the recommendation of Dr. Zucker. In a situation like this, whether you're president, mayor, governor, let the experts decide and let the science decide the situation,' he said.

Public and private schools in Scarsdale, which is also in Westchester County but outside the containment area, have already been closed until at least March 18 after a staffer tested positive.

The surge in cases in New York state, particularly Westchester, have been tied to the Manhattan attorney who infected his family and others last week.

His wife spoke out publicly this week, saying his family are 'hopeful' for his full recovery.

Garbuz was hospitalized with the contagious disease on February 27 and health officials quickly determined that he had infected his children, wife, neighbor and friend's family of five.

Garbuz had recently returned to New York from a trip to Miami before he was diagnosed. He marked the first case of community spread of the coronavirus in New York.

Within days, members of his Manhattan law firm and attendees at the New Rochelle synagogue that he attends later tested positive.

It comes after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday there will be no widespread school closures for now and insists there won't be an Italy-style lockdown after 17 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the city.

'We cannot shut down because of undue fear,' de Blasio told MSNBC's Morning Joe.

'I would advise against these mass closures when we're keeping this situation relatively contained... ask me in a week, ask me in a month - it might change.'

He is also currently not considering widespread closures to public schools.

Health officials have previously said school closures in the city would be a last resort.

'Our schools are running. And we've said, even if, God forbid, we found a case in a school, we're not shutting down all our schools. We're not even shutting that school down long term,' de Blasio said.

'We'll go in, clean that school, isolate individuals who had that really direct contact, and then get up and running. We'll have a day where a school is shut to get reset, then get back up and running. Because people's livelihoods are at stake. Parents need a place for their kids.

'We can stay safe but still keep our lives going, our economy going. People have to pay the rent, people need money for food etc.'

De Blasio said individual schools might close for a brief period of students or teachers became infected.

The outbreak has resulted in a number of mostly private schools canceling or suspending in person classes. In New York City, Columbia University, Yeshiva University, New York University and Juilliard announced that classes would be canceled or offered online.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says a one-mile containment area will be set up in New Rochelle in Westchester County where the main cluster of coronavirus have been reported

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS? Like other coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold and that triggered SARS, COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. The most common symptoms are: Fever

Dry cough

Shortness of breath

Difficulty breathing

Fatigue Although having a runny nose doesn't rule out coronavirus, it doesn't thus far appear to be a primary symptom. Most people only become mildly ill, but the infection can turn serious and even deadly, especially for those who are older or have underlying health conditions. In these cases, patients develop pneumonia, which can cause: Potentially with yellow, green or bloody mucus Fever, sweating and shaking chills

Shortness of breath Rapid or shallow breathing

Pain when breathing, especially when breathing deeply or coughing

Low appetite, energy and fatigue

Nausea and vomiting (more common in children) Confusion (more common in elderly people)

Some patients have also reported diarrhea and kidney failure has occasionally been a complication. Avoid people with these symptoms. If you develop them, call your health care provider before going to the hospital or doctor, so they and you can prepare to minimize possible exposure if they suspect you have coronavirus. Advertisement

Two bus drivers in Long Island's Nassau County are among the new cases who have tested positive for coronavirus. Those two drivers are responsible for roughly 80 students on various daily routes.

The positive tests have resulted in several Long Island school closures including in Oyster Bay, Locust Valley, Glen Cove and Westbury.

Gov Cuomo said on Monday the state was implementing a new policy that if student or teacher tested positive, the school would be shut down for at least 24 hours to be assessed and disinfected.

Meanwhile, de Blasio also said he couldn't get a coherent answer from the FDA over its 'unfathomable' decision not to approve automated testing.

Health officials in the city would be able to test thousands of people a day for coronavirus if the FDA approved automated testing, de Blasio said on Tuesday.

Currently, officials in New York City can only carry out 100 or so coronavirus tests per day.

'As recently as eight days ago New York City did not have the ability to do their own tests. We finally have that ability but what we still don't have is approval from the FDA to do automated tests,' de Blasio said.

'If we had the approval from the FDA for automated tests, it would be thousands of tests we could in a single day with results the same day.

'It's unfathomable that after this long these tests have not been approved.'

It came as de Blasio confirmed the additional cases in the city and said 258 people have returned negative tests so far.

About 1,580 people are currently in voluntary quarantine while 34 are under mandatory quarantine.

The main cluster of cases in the state remains in Westchester where a Manhattan attorney was first struck down with the virus early last week and subsequently infected his family and others.

New York City's usually bustling Times Square looked relatively empty today as coronavirus cases in the city rose to 173

De Blasio, pictured on Monday handing out coronavirus information at Union Square, has confirmed five new coronavirus cases in the city, bringing the total to 25

The Mayor on Monday urged sick or vulnerable New Yorkers to only use the subway if necessary to avoid spreading coronavirus

The normally bustling Grand Central Terminal was virtually empty on Monday afternoon

The Mayor on Monday urged sick or vulnerable New Yorkers to only use the subway if necessary to avoid spreading coronavirus.

A seven-year-old girl in the Bronx and a the head of New York and New Jersey's Port Authority Rick Cotton are among the recently confirmed cases.

The US death toll from the disease is currently at 27 with the majority being from Washington state following an outbreak at a nursing home just outside Seattle.

To cope with the outbreak, Gov Cuomo announced the state would be making its own hand sanitizer after declaring a state of emergency over the weekend.

Speaking about the new sanitizer, Gov Cuomo said it was made up of 75 percent alcohol and will be provided to facilities including schools, the MTA, government run buildings and prisons.

Cuomo said that state currently has the capacity to make 100,000 gallons of the sanitizer per week, adding that it is cheaper for officials to make it instead of buying it on the market.

It is being manufactured by Corcraft, which is the company that relies on prisoners in New York to make products, and is being made by inmates at the Great Meadow correctional facility.

The state-made sanitizer costs about $6 per gallon to produce, according to Cuomo. He said the production stemmed from reports of price gouging on sanitizer.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a new state-made sanitizer on Monday as he gave the update on the increased number of coronavirus cases after declaring a state of emergency over the weekend

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled the new sanitizer on Monday as he gave an update on the increased number of coronavirus cases after declaring a state of emergency over the weekend