COVID-19: New York records highest number of deaths in single day

April 04, 2020 16:09

The New York State reported its highest number of 562 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, with a person dying almost every two-and-a-half minutes, as Governor Andrew Cuomo allowed redistribution of ventilators and protective gear to hospitals with greater need.

Coronavirus cases in the state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, crossed 100,000 and it recorded the highest increase in the number of deaths from the virus in a single day between April 2 and 3, Cuomo said.

The death toll in the state now stands at 2,935, an increase of 562 deaths in just one day, Cuomo said.

"The curve continues to go up," Cuomo said while addressing reporters on Friday.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state now stand at 102,863, nearly half of all COVID-19 infections in the US, where the tally has reached 277,953.

New York City alone has 56,289 coronavirus patients.

Cuomo also gave a grim assessment of the rising number of casualties, saying the state witnessed the "highest single increase in the number of deaths since we started."

More than 7,000 people have died in the US, and 1,867 in the New York City alone, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre.

"More people in New York died from the virus in the last 24 hours than in the first 27 days of March. The state's death toll has nearly doubled in the last three days," The New York Times said.

The Governor also expressed anger over the short supply of essential medical equipment for healthcare professionals to help them deal with the surge in the cases across the state and the country.

He said personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns and face shields are in short supply in New York as they are across the country and there is need for companies to make these materials.

"It is unbelievable to me that in New York State, in the United States of America, we can't make these materials and that we are all shopping China to try to get these materials and we're all competing against each other," he said.

Holding up an N-95 mask and a medical gown, Cuomo said these "are not complex materials and we will work with New York manufacturers, will finance the transition necessary to make these materials."

"I mean we talk about them as if they're very complicated," he said, adding that "it can't be that we can't make these. It can't be that companies in this country and in this state can't transition to make those supplies quickly."

Cuomo asserted that he is not going to get into a situation where the state is running out of ventilators and people are dying because there are no ventilators but there are hospitals in other parts of the state that have them but are not using. -- PTI

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