NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- On Thursday afernoon state officials announced a shocking increase in the number of cases: Earlier in the day, the statewide total was 4,152 but by the afternoon there were 5,298 cases.

Deaths also rose from 21 to 31.

New York State has more coronavirus cases than any state in the U.S.

Cuomo earlier announced that the number of people required to work from home has gone from 50 percent to 75 percent. No more than 25 percent of work force can be in the workforce.

He also said there will be a 90-day relief on mortgage payments based on financial hardship.

On Thursday morning, Cuomo also said, "This has always been about one thing: Reducing the spread and getting the numbers down."

The governor also said, "We have about 5,000 ventilators we can identify - we need about 30,000. Every state is shopping for ventilators. We literally have people shopping in China for ventilators since they are a major manufacturer."

Cuomo also noted that the state is fighting on two fronts. "We're fighting the virus and we're fighting fear," Cuomo said. "In many ways the fear is more dangerous than the virus. We now have misiformation and fear and panic and we have to deal with both of them".

During an interview on CNN Thursday morning, Cuomo said they set a new record and tested 8,000 people overnight and there will be an increase in positive cases once the results come in.

When asked about the CDC allowing exposed doctors to continue to work due to a shortage of protective gear such as masks, the governor said "we need to treat this like a war, this is going to be a matter of life and death for people."

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