NY Covid hospitalisations lowest since Nov 2020: Cuomo

New York, April 18 Covid-19 hospitalisations in New York state has dropped to the lowest level since November 30, 2020, said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In a statement on Saturday, Cuomo said hospitalisations on Friday were 3,834, compared to 3,884 a day earlier, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the single-day Covid-19 test positivity rate also dipped to 2.78 per cent on Friday from 2.81 per cent the previous day, he said, adding that the state's death toll stood at 58 on Friday, compared with 43 one day earlier.

"Covid-19 has been a long and extremely difficult time in the lives of New Yorkers, and although I know Covid fatigue is setting in and people are desperate to return to normal, we're still dealing with a pandemic and we still need to practice the behaviours that keep ourselves and others safe," the Governor was quoted as saying in the statement.

"New York continues to make progress on vaccinations, and we're expanding eligibility and opening more pop-up sites across the state to get more shots in arms. That's good news, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't keep washing our hands, wearing masks and staying socially distanced.

"The infection rate is a function of what we do to slow the spread, individually and in our communities, and variants of the virus should still be a concern for all of us.

"We're moving forward toward the light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to defeat this Covid beast together to get there," he added.

In a tweet on Saturday, Cuomo said that "40.9 per cent of New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine dose and 27.6 per cent have completed their vaccine series. 249,255 total doses were administered over the past 24 hours. 13,122,020 total doses administered to date."

As of Saturday afternoon, total Covid-19 deaths in New York state reached 51,818, the second worst in the country following the state of California with a death toll of 60,964, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

New York state, once the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, has so far reported 2,039,325 coronavirus cases.