WASHINGTON – Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney reiterated the administration's claim on Friday that a tumbling stock market reaction to the coronavirus is the fault of the media, claiming that outlets think the virus "will bring down the president, that's what this is all about."

The comments come as the World Health Organization on Friday increased its coronavirus risk assessment to "very high" as cases outside of China continue to increase, while the market fallout over the virus has shaved off more than 3,000 points from the blue-chip average this week alone, its largest ever.

Much of the domestic political media coverage about the coronavirus has so far focused on announcements and actions taken by the Trump administration.

On Monday, the White House requested $2.5 billion in emergency funding from Congress, a figure that Democrats immediately tried to frame as inadequate. A day later, Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned of "severe" disruptions.

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Schools could be closed, she told reporters, mass public gatherings could be suspended and employees could be forced to work from home.

After returning from a two-day trip to India, Trump held an hour-long news conference on Wednesday in which he appointed Vice President Mike Pence as his administration's point person on responding to the virus. Though the president sought to reassure the public that the nation was prepared, he also at times appeared to contradict health officials.

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Mulvaney insisted the depictions that the administration is "scrambling" were untrue, and any panic was the fault of the media.

“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mulvaney asked the conservative audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, and that’s all the press wanted to talk about.”

“The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president,” Mulvaney continued. “The reason you’re seeing so much attention to [the coronavirus] today is that they think this is going to be what brings down the president. That’s what this is all about.”

In regards to the markets tumbling, Mulvaney quipped that what he "might do today [to] calm the markets is tell people turn their televisions off for 24 hours.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer bashed Mulvaney's comments, stating, "For Mick Mulvaney to suggest that Americans turn off their TVs and bury their heads in the sand when they’re worried about a global health pandemic is Orwellian, counterproductive, dangerous, and would be repeating China’s mistake."

After Mulvaney's CPAC appearance, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was grilled by some Democratic lawmakers over the Trump administration’s coronavirus response during a congressional hearing meant to address the U.S. strategy in Iran and national security.

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During a particularly heated exchange with Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., the congressman asked Pompeo if he believes "the coronavirus is a hoax," alluding to Mulvaney's comments.

"Do you believe coronavirus is a hoax?" Lieu asked.

"I'm not going to comment on what others are saying," Pompeo responded. "I'm just telling you what the secretary of State is doing."

"It's not even a gotcha question. Do you believe the coronavirus is a hoax?" Lieu continued to press after multiple back-and-forth exchanges.

"It is a gotcha moment," Pompeo answered. "It's not useful."

Lieu then pressed the secretary on whether he would be speaking at CPAC later, where Mulvaney had made the earlier remarks.

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When Pompeo answered he was, Lieu quipped, “So you could only give two hours to Congress, and instead of answering questions on life and death issues you're going to go talk to a special interest group?”

“Yes,” Pompeo replied, to which Lieu declared, “It's shameful.”

Also speaking out on Friday about coronavirus was White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who suggested that the Trump administration's response would end up benefiting his reelection effort.

“This is a government-wide effort, and so I think folks are going to look at that and say, you know what, he was doing his job very well. And I think therefore at the end of the day it’s going to actually help him on that,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House.

In terms of economic concerns, Kudlow said, "I just think everybody, whether you’re an investor or whether you’re an ordinary mainstream person, people should not overreact."

The coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 83,000 people and killed nearly 3,000 people globally as of Friday morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 357 points to close at 25,409.36, recouping some losses after briefly dropping more than 1,000 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 slid 0.8% to end at 2,954. The Nasdaq Composite closed virtually unchanged to finish at 8,567.

Contributing: Adrianna Rodriguez, Jessica Menton