Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) knocked President Trump on Friday for questioning if injecting disinfectant could help cure the coronavirus, urging the administration to focus on ramping up testing.

"We seemed to have a quack medicine salesman on television. He's talking about things like disinfectant in the lungs," Schumer said during an interview with NPR.

"We need real focus in the White House on what needs to be done. Instead of talking about disinfectant the president should be talking about how he's going to implement testing. Which every expert says is the quickest path to get us moving again," he added.

After a presentation from a Department of Homeland Security official about the effects of disinfectants and sunlight on the virus, Trump questioned if the same techniques could be used as treatments inside the body.

“I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” Trump said. “One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?”

The remarks drew immediate pushback from doctors who warned against injecting or consuming household disinfectants to treat the disease. Lysol manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser on Friday issued a warning that “under no circumstance” should its products be administered into the human body or be used as a treatment for the coronavirus.

The White House on Friday argued that the media had taken Trump's remarks "out of context."

Congress included $25 billion for testing as part of the $484 billion coronavirus relief bill that passed both the House and Senate this week. A provision in the bill would require states to come up with plans for how to use the resources and for a national strategy from the administration on how to help states with testing.

Lawmakers, including Republicans, have warned that the United States is still lagging behind in testing. Public health experts say widely available tests are critical if social distancing restrictions are going to be lifted.

Schumer was asked by NPR if he had secured a promise from Trump on including additional state and local government aid in the next coronavirus bill, something the president and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have signaled they are open to.

"Commitments from President Trump come and go but we can force it to happen in the [next coronavirus] bill and I think there is enough bipartisan support ... to get that done," Schumer said.