Coronavirus deaths rocket again in New York as US cases approach 600,000

Another 778 New Yorkers have been killed by coronavirus as the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 in the US edges towards 600,000. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that his state’s death toll had risen from 671 on Sunday to 778 on Monday.

Monday’s death toll is the worst since April 11, when 758 people died. Deaths hovered in the high 700s each day last week, but Governor Cuomo said that the number of people being killed by Covid-19 appeared to be reaching a plateau.

He said: ‘It’s flattening at a devastating level of pain and grief.’ A total of 10,834 people have now been killed by coronavirus in New York state since the crisis began 44 days ago. Around 200,000 have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the Empire State alone – far more than the number of single cases for any other country on Earth.

Governor Cuomo said on Monday that the number of coronavirus patients hospitalized had dropped from 18,825 to 18,697. The average number of people hospitalized rose by an average of just 14 people each day for the last three days. And the number of people admitted to intensive care with coronavirus rose by 69 overnight, down from a high of 395 in just 24 hours on April 3.

Governor Cuomo also sought to smooth over a growing rift with Donald Trump, which saw him liken the president to a king over whether Trump has the absolute authority to reopen the economy whenever he chooses.

Commenting on a tweet by Trump branding him a mutineer, Cuomo said: ‘It reminded me of a poster I saw when I was in grade school ‘What happened if you had a war and nobody came?’

‘If he wants a fight from me he’s not going to get it – period. This is going to take us working together… we are not out of the woods. In this reopening we could lose all the progress we made if we do it wrong

‘He has no fight here. I won’t let it happen.’