World coronavirus capital New York sees sharp drop in intensive care patients for first time

Coronavirus stricken New York has seen fewer people admitted to intensive care than discharged from it for the first time since the crisis began. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed the positive news on Friday, saying the admissions to intensive care in the last 24 hours was -17, meaning more people were being moved out of specialist breathing assistance care than were being admitted.

Governor Cuomo also announced a further 777 people had died of Covid-19 across New York overnight. That is a drop from yesterday’s all-time one day high of 799 deaths, and slightly fewer than Wednesday’s total of 779 deaths. Cuomo said the slight drop brought him ‘solace’ that New York may be flattening its coronavirus curve. A total of 7,844 people have been killed by coronavirus across the Empire State – far more than the 2,753 New Yorkers killed by the 9/11 terror attacks.

On Friday, Cuomo announced plans to create a ‘hero’s fund’ for frontline workers including medical staff, transport workers and shop assistants, saying: ‘Saying thanks is nice, but showing gratitude is better.’

So far, New York has seen more than 161,000 coronavirus diagnoses and close to 8,000 deaths. The state has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any country on Earth, amid an intensive testing program aimed at grasping the scale of the problem. Governor Cuomo said on Friday that further testing would be key in getting the city out of quarantine and back to work.

Developing story, more to follow