NEW YORK | New York State, the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States, has recorded 540 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the lowest toll in 15 days, its governor, Andrew Cuomo, said on Saturday.
• Read also: All the developments of the pandemic
The last death toll below this figure in this state of some 20 million people dated from April 2, with 432 deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project site.
The state’s single-day death toll reached a record 799 deaths on April 9.
The governor, who extended the containment measures to May 15 on Thursday, nevertheless remains cautious: 2,000 new people still walked through the door of a state hospital yesterday for the coronavirus, he said.
“We are no longer in the plateau phase, but we still have not come out of the woods,” he said.
The Democratic governor also called for unity. Since the start of the week, he and Republican President Donald Trump have strongly criticized each other on social networks or through media.
“There is no room for political politics,” Cuomo pleaded on Saturday. “How can the situation get worse, and get worse quickly?” If you politicize all this emotion. We can’t afford it. ”
“Let’s stick together and work to get out of this. That’s why we call ourselves the United States, right? Unity is the key […] We need this unity now more than ever, ”he said, quoting Abraham Lincoln.
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