NEW YORK | New York state, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States, recorded 594 new deaths in 24 hours, bringing the toll to 4,159, its Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday.
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The toll on one day is down slightly, compared to 630 new deaths recorded the day before, the worst on record in the state. But “it is still too early” to draw conclusions, said the Democratic governor at a press conference.
Similarly, the figures on new hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units or intubated people are down slightly, but it will take “two, three days” to draw a trend, he insisted.
New York State may be “very close to the peak” of contamination or “this peak may be a plateau and we are on it,” Cuomo added cautiously.
In the meantime, the state health system is “under stress” for lack of “sufficient equipment and professionals”, he insisted.
President Donald Trump on Saturday announced the dispatch of a thousand military medics and nurses to New York to help him cope with the influx of patients.
The first 325, expected as early as Sunday, will be assigned to public hospitals in New York City, where the situation is most tense, Cuomo said.
New York State concentrates more than a third of the 312,481 cases of Covid-19 identified in the United States and almost half of the 8,503 people who have succumbed to the new coronavirus in the country.
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