(In the second paragraph, it was corrected that the easing process in New York State should take place in four rather than three phases.)
NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US state of New York, which is particularly badly affected by the corona pandemic, wants to slowly relax its restrictions again from Friday – but only in those regions that meet certain conditions. The seven conditions included, among other things, falling numbers of infections, sufficient free hospital capacity and sufficient test and follow-up capacities, as Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily press conference on Monday.
If a region fulfills all these conditions, it is allowed to enter a four-phase opening process, which is monitored by a regional body. In the first phase, for example, construction work that is not systemically relevant may be resumed. If the numbers deteriorate again, easing can be reversed.
Currently, only three rural regions in the north of the state met these conditions, Cuomo said. The metropolis of New York, where around half of the state’s 19 million inhabitants live, does not yet meet the requirements.
The number of new infections overall continued to decline in the state. 161 people died on Sunday after being infected with the virus, Cuomo announced. In March and April, up to 800 people per day had died from the virus. So far, nearly 330,000 people have contracted the virus in the state. More than 26,000 died.
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