A top official at Health and Human Services says he was ousted from his job this week for pushing back on demands that he sign off on a coronavirus treatment that was advocated by the president.

"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit. I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way," Dr. Rick Bright said Wednesday in a statement issued by his lawyers.

“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the Administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit. While I am prepared to look at all options and to think 'outside the box' for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public," Bright said in the statement, which was first reported by the New York Times.

Trump had repeatedly touted the drug as a potential "game changer" in treating coronavirus patients. A preliminary nationwide study, however, found the drug was ineffective in treating the virus and there were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care.

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Seven more big cats have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Bronx Zoo, the facility said Wednesday.

The zoo said in a statement that three tigers and three African lions that developed a cough were found to have the disease. A fourth tiger with no symptoms also tested positive, the zoo said. The tests were conducted using fecal samples.

The zoo said earlier this month that a 4-year-old Malayan tiger, Nadia, had tested positive for the virus after she was anesthetized and her nose, throat and respiratory tract were swabbed.

The cats, which were infected by a staff member who wasn’t showing symptoms of the disease, were eating well and behaving normally, the zoo said. None of the zoo’s other big cats were showing symptoms of the disease.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a TV station in Michigan over a Democratic super PAC ad that they say misleadingly accuses Trump of being soft on China at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s campaign earlier this month sued a Wisconsin TV station and sent cease-and-desist letters to other swing-state TV stations over an ad from a different Democratic super PAC, Priorities USA. The latest cease-and-desist letter, obtained by NBC News, targets WOOD, an NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and demands the station stop running “a false, misleading, and deceptive advertisement” produced by an offshoot of the Democratic group American Bridge. 

The ad, which Trump also attacked in a tweet, accuses Trump of trusting China even though, the narrator says, “everyone knew they lied about the virus.” And it suggests the Trump administration shipped 17 tons of medical supplies the U.S. now needs to China in the early days of the outbreak, before it was widespread in the United States.

The Trump campaign said the State Department merely helped manage logistics for the shipment of medical supplies by using chartered planes that were bound for China to repatriate Americans and would have flown empty otherwise. Instead, the planes carried goods donated by a group of charities and businesses.

American Bridge, however, noted how the Trump administration publicly touted the shipment and pointed to Trump's repeated praise for China’s response to the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic. In response to Trump's criticism, the group said it would put an additional “six figures” behind the ad to run it on digital platforms.

“We will not be intimidated by his gang of lawyers, and we will not relent in our mission to make sure voters have the facts straight on Donald Trump," American Bridge President Bradley Beychok said.

President Donald Trump began his Wednesday press conference by asking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield to explain how he was "misquoted" in recent coverage of a Washington Post interview in which he said next winter might be "more difficult" than the past two months.

Redfield then tried to explain a difference between "more difficult," "worse," and "more devastating," the latter of which was how his remarks were paraphrased in a Washington Post headline, before saying he was "accurately quoted" in the publication.

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Illinois reported a new daily high in coronavirus cases on Wednesday as experts project the state has yet to even hit its peak. 

There were a total of 2,049 new cases in the last day, pushing the state's total number of positive tests above 35,000. Officials say the peak in Illinois is now projected to hit in mid-May, later than initially expected. 

The state is under a stay-at-home order until April 30, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he may extend the order. 

President Trump said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing that he signed the executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the U.S. as the economy works to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he "strongly disagrees" with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's decision to allow businesses like barber shops and nail salons to reopen, a day after he praised him during the White House briefing.

"I think it's too soon," Trump said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Wednesday. "But at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right."

Asked about the same plan on Tuesday, Trump praised Kemp as "a capable man who knows what he's doing."

The governor’s decision has been widely criticized by mayors in Georgia for being premature.

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Health officials in Los Angeles are changing course in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus at long-term care facilities that account for roughly a third of the 729 deaths in the county due to the virus. 

LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Wednesday that officials had been operating under the assumption that they need to focus on symptomatic residents and employees. But with significant spread among those who are asymptomatic, the county is moving to test all those who are daily in close contact with infected individuals.

The state, which last week reported coronavirus cases at 1,224 different nursing homes, lifted restrictions on testing those who are asymptomatic. LA County will get assistance from the CDC to help with infection control at facilities where there are cases.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman on Wednesday offered up her 650,000 constituents as a "control group" against shutdown orders while bitterly complaining that her tourism-reliant city is being economically ravaged.

"How do you know until we have a control group? We offered to be a control group," Goodman told CNN, when asked if lifting shutdown orders would lead to a spike coronavirus deaths. "I did offer, it was turned down."

Goodman said her proposal, to measure the public health impact of opening Las Vegas for business again, was turned down because too many people in town at any given moment are from outside city limits — thus making a proper statistical analysis impossible.

The mayor's proposal didn't set well with late-night host and Las Vegas native Jimmy Kimmel, who tweeted: "Carolyn Goodman should resign before lunch arrives today. She is an embarrassment to my hometown."

Gov. Kevin Stitt announced plans to reopen businesses across Oklahoma beginning on Friday, using the three-phase plan issued by the White House as its guide. 

The state has met all the necessary criteria laid out by the plan from President Donald Trump's administration, including a downward trend of cases, according to an announcement from Stitt Wednesday.

Oklahoma will begin allowing state parks and "personal care" businesses, such as hair salons and barbershops, to reopen beginning April 24. Other businesses, including restaurants and movie theaters, can begin reopening on May 1. 

"These businesses must maintain distance between customers and encourage customers to wait in their car until it is time for their appointment to avoid congestion in the lobbies or entrances," the governor's announcement said.