New York state has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country outside of the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The state has at least 161,807 confirmed cases, overtaking Spain, Italy, France and Germany. The United States leads as the country with the most confirmed cases, clocking in at over 466,000.
New York state, though it beats out every country but the United States in terms of confirmed cases, has fewer deaths than countries like Spain, France, and Italy. Spain's reported 15,843 deaths, according to the latest tallies, while Italy has reported 18,279 and France has 12,228.
New York City, which has become the epicenter of the outbreak, has had at least 5,150 deaths, according to the latest tallies from Johns Hopkins University.
China, where the virus is believed to have originated, has 82,940 confirmed cases, according to the latest data. But the Chinese government has deliberately underreported the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the country, the U.S. intelligence community told the White House, according to a report. China denied the accusation, calling it a "despicable attempt to put political interests above human life."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been vocal about New York receiving support from the federal government to deal with the outbreak. He has asked the White House for ventilators, masks and other respiratory and medical equipment to ensure the safety of those on the front lines responding to the pandemic.
"We're in a battle, right, but this is about a war," Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany on Thursday.
"This virus is very, very good at what it does. We lost more lives yesterday than we have to date." New York has lost more lives and is suffering greater economic damage than from the 9/11 attacks, Cuomo said.
President Donald Trump, in response, invoked the Defense Production Act, a statute that gives the White House authority to compel companies to manufacture much-needed goods. He's since called upon companies like General Motors and others to ramp up production of ventilators and other medical equipment.
While the number of deaths in New York is climbing, the rate of new cases and new coronavirus hospitalizations is starting to level off, Cuomo said on Thursday. But he warned residents against becoming complacent, saying officials worry the coronavirus could resurge if they let up on stay-at-home restrictions that were put in place 18 days ago.
The number of new coronavirus hospital admissions dropped to 200 on Wednesday, the smallest number of new cases since March 18, according to a chart. Cuomo said it was the "lowest number we've had since this nightmare started."
Earlier on Thursday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the city may need to tighten its social distancing restrictions to contain the coronavirus outbreak and prevent it from resurging, saying it's going to be a "long, tough" April.
The coronavirus has spread to dozens of countries globally, with more than 1.6 million confirmed cases worldwide and over 96,787 deaths so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
—CNBC's Noah Higgins-Dunn, William Feuer, Kevin Breuninger and Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.