Coronavirus pandemic in the US

President Trump says he takes no responsibility for a spike in people using disinfectants improperly after he suggested ingesting disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus last week.

When asked about the increase, Trump said, "I can't imagine why."

He answered, “No, I don’t" when asked if he takes any responsibility for the numbers.

Some context: Trump asked his medical team to look into the possibility of using disinfectants as a way to cure the virus inside the body during a coronavirus briefing last Thursday.

He has since claimed that the comments were “sarcastic.”

As CNN has previously reported, Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday his state experienced hundreds of calls from people across Maryland asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants was an effective way to combat coronavirus.

“I think it is critical that the President of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences, that we really get the facts out there,” he told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.

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President Trump described governors as “as thrilled as they can be” over the administration's response to the coronavirus, hours after a meeting with state leaders on Monday.

“It could have been stopped,” Trump added, “and it could've been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago it seems decided not to do it that way, and the whole world is suffering because of it, 184 countries at least.”

The President has made similar statements about the Chinese government’s response to the virus at briefings in recent weeks.

Trump added that his administration “has encouraged the governors to leverage unused testing capacity in states.”

“Very few understood that we have tremendous capacity,” he said adding that the administration, “provided each governor with a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of the labs where they could find additional testing capacity in their states."

President Trump defended Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who downplayed the impact of coronavirus in the early stages of the pandemic.

“I think it’s a very unfair question because you have many great professionals, some of them you have great respect for, and you have many people in the other party… that have said the same thing and with even more confidence,” Trump said when asked about Azar's role. “So a lot of people didn’t get that right."

Trump's comments come after Trump denied in a tweet Sunday he was about to fire Azar.

He wrote in the tweet, “Reports that H.H.S. Secretary @AlexAzar is going to be ‘fired’ by me” are false.

A senior administration official told CNN Saturday evening that White House officials were discussing plans to replace Azar following a spate of criticism of the early response to the coronavirus outbreak.

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President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force released additional guidance on how states should proceed with the reopening their economies and scale up testing.

Dr. Deborah Birx and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Dr. Brett Giroir presented the eight-part plan at a press briefing on Monday.

Giroir said the eight parts are grouped into three distinct phases. He said the US has accomplished all parts of the first two phases, and are now working to fulfill stage three by supporting reopening state economies.

Here's what the blueprint suggests:

Stage 1: Launch

Stage 2: Scale

Stage 3: Support opening up again

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called on residents to "take advantage" of the state's resources and get tested.

Kemp said Monday that they've "given a total of 127,169 tests." While Kemp acknowledged an increase in their testings numbers, he said, "We realize we have to continue to do more."

At least 23,773 cases of coronavirus and 942 deaths have been reported in Georgia, Kemp said.

President Trump announced a "blueprint" to set guidance on how states should handle coronavirus, distinguishing the roles between states and the federal government.

"We are continuing to rapidly expand our capacity and confident that we have enough testing to begin reopening and the reopening process. We want to get our country open. And the testing is not going to be a problem at all. In fact it's going to be one of the great assets that we have," he said.

Trump added: "Today we releasing additional guidance on testing to inform the states as they develop their plans for a phased and very safe reopening. Our blueprint describes how states should unlock their full capacity, expand the number of testing, establish monitoring systems to detect local outbreaks on the testing platform, and conduct contact tracing. We have it all."

A White House official told CNN the goal was to help each state reach the ability to test at least 2% of its residents, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and emergency workers.

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There has been at least 983,848 coronavirus cases in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 55,735 people have died from the virus.

On Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 18,063 new cases and 854 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and members of the coronavirus task force briefed the nation's governors Monday afternoon on a new testing blueprint. 

According to audio of the call obtained by CNN, Trump said the US has now completed 5.4 million tests and the number of tests being performed each day has "began to skyrocket," citing more than 200,000 tests performed last Wednesday. He praised governors who have implemented testing strategies and contracted with the public and private sector to get what they need. 

Trump noted newly-released funding for the Paycheck Protection Program. 

He then told the governors that as long as they continue to combat the virus with "unity, strength and resolve" – “for the most part… not in all cases but for the most part we have" — that the US would get "safely and confidently back to work."

Trump turned the call over to Pence, who said that Monday's blueprint announcement is a "continuation" of the April 16 phased reopening guidelines. 

"It is science-based and, hopefully, will give you great confidence going forward," Pence said, noting that the task force believes there is currently the testing capacity for every state to meet the testing criteria for phase one. 

“We’ve seen a rapid expansion of testing," Pence said. 

Carnival Cruise Line is using its own cruise ships in North America to transport crew members home to ports in Asia, Europe and Latin America during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement from the cruise line.

According to statistics released by Miami’s US Coast Guard 7th District last week, 87 cruise ships with nearly 65,000 crew members were in the district’s area of responsibility, which includes the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Carnival did not provide CNN with the total number of crew members who are currently sailing home.

“As the company moves to safe operational manning levels during our pause in operations, we have begun the process of returning healthy crew members to their home countries throughout the world utilizing some of our fleet as transport given the limited number of commercial flights and charter options," the statement said.

The Carnival Ecstasy cruise ship left Jacksonville, Florida, this weekend and was headed to India, according to a US Customs and Border Protection Instagram post.

According to Carnival, the cruise line’s “27 ships have been docked at homeports or anchored at sea since mid-March with no guests on board, only crew members.”