Coronavirus: English hospital death toll rises 445 to 19,746

Thailand reported on Wednesday nine new coronavirus infections but no deaths, taking to 2,947 cases and 54 deaths its tally since the outbreak began in January.

It was the third day that new infections stayed in the single digits, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Reuters reported. 

Six of the new cases were linked to earlier cases, two had no known links, and the ninth involved a person who tested positive but awaits infection tracing, he added.

Since the outbreak began, 2,665 patients in the southeast Asian nation have recovered and gone home.

Germany on Wednesday reported 1,304 more cases of the novel coronavirus while the number of deaths rose by 202 compared to the previous day, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.

People walk under trees with cherry blossoms in Berlin, Germany, March 22, 2020, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues/ Reuters

Europe's most populous country now has a total of 157,641 confirmed cases and 6,115 deaths, according to the tally, Reuters reported. 

Britain now has capacity to conduct more than 73,000 tests for the coronavirus per day, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Wednesday.

The government set itself a target to conduct 100,000 tests per day by the end of April. Raab said the actual daily number of test carried out was 52,429.

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) defended the body’s record in its response to the new coronavirus in a news briefing on Wednesday.

“From the beginning, the WHO has acted quickly and decisively to respond to warn the world,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after giving a timeline of what the body knew in the lead-up to declaring Covid-19 a global emergency on Jan. 30.

“We sounded the alarm early and we sounded it often,” he said, adding: “WHO is committed to transparency and accountability.”

Brazil, the South American country worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has registered more than 5,000 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry announced Tuesday.

A record 474 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, with the number of infections rising to 71,886, the ministry said, AFP reported. 

The overall death toll from the pandemic in Brazil has exceeded that of China, where the virus first emerged before spreading across the world. Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro regularly expresses his impatience with restrictions imposed by the state governors to slow the disease’s spread and has pushed hard for economy activity to restart.

Health Minister Nelson Teich, who took office earlier this month after the controversial firing of his predecessor, said last week as the death toll hit 3,000 that it was premature to attribute the rise in deaths to a surge in Covid-19 infections.

He suggested it could instead be the result of an increase in testing.

Sao Paulo, the hardest-hit state with a third of the country’s cases, plans to gradually resume economic activity — sector by sector — from May 11.

Rio de Janeiro and southeastern Minas Gerais states are preparing similar measures, while the federal district of Brasilia and southern Santa Catarina state have already resumed certain activities.

A total of 26,097 people have died with coronavirus in the UK from 2 March to 28 April.

For the first time, the UK-wide figure includes deaths in care homes and the community as well as hospitals, reports the BBC.

The deaths counted are people who died after testing positive for the virus.

Public Health England has now reported an additional 3,811 deaths in England since the start of the outbreak.

Of these, around 70 percent were outside hospital settings and around 30 percent were in hospital.

Canadian hospitals had beds to spare as the country hit 50,373 confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, and several provinces were relaxing public health measures, but health experts were already worrying about a future wave of infections.

While it is too soon to say whether Canada’s epidemic has peaked, it has slowed, thanks to swift workplace closures and other physical distancing measures: New cases doubled every three days early in the epidemic, and now double every 16 days, the government said on Tuesday. Since the first death on March 9, the virus has killed 2,904 in total. In the United States, an average of 2,000 died each day in April, a Reuters tally found.

“I really thought we were on track for something similar to what we were watching unfold in Italy and subsequently in New York (a month ago),” said epidemiologist Ashleigh Tuite of the University of Toronto. 

Yemeni authorities reported multiple coronavirus infections for the first time on Wednesday, after the United Nations said it feared the disease could be spreading undetected in a country where millions face famine.

The five new Covid-19 cases were detected in Aden, a southern port which is interim headquarters of a government ousted from the capital Sanaa more than five years ago in a war that has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Previously Yemen had detected only a single case. International health officials have long warned that Yemen’s population could be extremely vulnerable to an outbreak, which would be difficult to detect in a country where health infrastructure has been degraded by poverty and war.

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Catalan separatists have used the coronavirus crisis as a fresh motive to argue for independence from Spain, some bluntly saying the pandemic would have caused fewer deaths had the wealthy northeastern region been on its own.

But with mistakes by both national and regional authorities, the separatists’ strategy to harshly criticise Madrid and suggest they would have done better could also backfire. In a region that has the most deaths after Madrid, the separatists say central government should have imposed a tougher and earlier lockdown, and also complain that centralizing purchases of masks and other equipment tangled the response.

“Spain is unemployment and death, Catalonia life and future,” tweeted Barcelona’s chamber of commerce chairman Joan Canadell in one of the strongest rebukes.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will allow the state's construction industry to return to work on May 7 as the Midwestern state battles the coronavirus outbreak, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"No one should be surprised that the governor would open a lower-risk field like she has said at previous press conferences," Whitmer spokesman Zack Pohl said in a statement.

Whitmer on Friday extended her stay-at-home order through May 15, but lifted restrictions so some businesses can open and the public can participate in outdoor activities like golfing.

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Pakistan is preparing to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions as the number of infections and deaths are well below previous projections, officials said on Wednesday.

The South Asian nation, which has registered more than 15,000 cases of Covid-19 including 335 deaths, has already granted exemptions to dozens of sectors to open up over the last few days.

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A further 445 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in English hospitals, bringing the total there to 19,746, the health service said.

Of the 445, 27 had no known underlying health condition and were aged between 14 and 94.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the United States remains worried about laboratories in China and the world needs to get to the bottom of how the novel coronavirus began there.

The United States and China have traded insults and accusations during the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 200,000 people around the world and brought the global economy to a crawl.

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A mosque in the western German city of Wuppertal is delivering meals to elderly Muslims unable to break the fast with their families due to lockdown as well as to non-Muslims struggling to make ends meet.

Volunteers at the mosque, run by one of Germany’s largest associations of mosques (DITIB), provide meals to anyone who places an order.

“People can’t go to the mosque so it’s really nice that they deliver it to my home,” said Nazmiye Odabasi, leaning over her window sill to pick up a sealed meal box, her hair covered with a small blue scarf.

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Boeing Co said on Wednesday it would cut its workforce by about 10 percent and further reduce 787 Dreamliner production after reporting a loss for the second straight quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hits global travel demand.

Its stock was up 5.4 percent at $138.34 in premarket trading.

Planemakers, airlines and suppliers have been left reeling by the pandemic, which has crippled passenger travel, catapulted major economies into recession and forced major companies to scramble for cash to weather the downturn.

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The United Kingdom's Covid-19 death toll is probably higher than 27,241 making it one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said on Wednesday as he questioned the government's response to the outbreak.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is facing growing criticism for its response to the outbreak as the death toll continues to rise.

While the government's chief scientific adviser said last month that keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a "good outcome", the hospital death toll passed that grim milestone last week.

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India has recorded its 1,000th novel coronavirus death, but the head of a government think-tank said on Wednesday that its 1.3 billion people, strained from weeks of lockdown, were not experiencing the feared exponential surge in infections.

India has now reported 31,331 cases, including 1,007 deaths, according to figures from the Health Ministry. Neighbouring Pakistan has 15,282 confirmed cases amid concerns about worshippers gathering at mosques during the current holy month of Ramadan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must decide soon whether to extend the world’s biggest lockdown, now 40 days old, beyond May 3.

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The Swiss government will restrict events with more than 1,000 people until the end of August, it said on Wednesday, even as it announced the easing of some other restrictions on sporting events, shops, restaurants and museums.

Some border restrictions will also begin being eased from May 11, it said. Moreover, professional sports teams can resume play on June 8, the government added, though without spectators.

It will decide on events of less than 1,000 people on May 27. At this stage, gatherings are limited to five people.

“The spread of the new coronavirus in Switzerland has slowed further,” the government said in a statement. “The measures to combat the virus are being implemented by the population and are having an effect. As a result, the government has decided to ease measures meant to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.”

The Syrian government said on Wednesday it extended a nationwide curfew to stem the spread of coronavirus but had eased a tight lockdown by allowing all businesses and public markets to go back to work.

The government imposed the nationwide curfew just over a month ago after it announced its first official confirmed coronavirus case following weeks of denying claims of a cover-up by medical sources and witnesses who said there were many more cases. UN bodies and humanitarian workers have warned the country, which has now reported 43 confirmed cases and three deaths, is at high risk with a fragile health sector and lack of sufficient resources in the event of a major outbreak.

Under pressure to soften the economic impact on the sanctions-hit country ravaged by a nine-year civil war, the authorities more than a week ago allowed a partial return to work for a wide range of professions and businesses.

The Netherlands’ number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen by 386 to 38,802 health authorities said on Wednesday, with 145 new deaths.

The country’s death toll stands at 4,711, the Netherlands’ Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.

The RIVM cautioned it only reports confirmed cases, and actual numbers are higher.

Gilead Sciences Inc said on Wednesday its experimental antiviral drug, remdesivir, had met the main goal of a trial testing it in Covid-19 patients.

The trial was being conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and more details on the data would be provided at an upcoming briefing by the NIAID, Gilead said.

Smoke billowed from the central prison in Sierra Leone's capital and gunfire could be heard from nearby streets on Wednesday after a riot broke out following the confirmation of a coronavirus case there, a Reuters reporter said.

Inmates at Pademba Road Prison had earlier set some buildings on fire in a protest that police and security forces were subsequently able to quell, Information Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray told reporters.

"There are casualties, but these are early days. When the dust settles we will be able to give you a more comprehensive account," Swaray said in a video streamed online.

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When the coronavirus outbreak in China disrupted global smartphone production in February, Samsung looked set to weather the crisis better than most thanks to its limited exposure there and launches of pricey 5G phones. Its fortunes are reversing.

The world's biggest smartphone vendor, Samsung Electronics Co in full, warned on Wednesday of a significant drop in mobile earnings in the second quarter, as recession fears dampen demand for high-end models and carriers in major markets delay the rollouts of fast 5G networks.

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The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Sweden rose past the 20,000 mark on Wednesday as the Nordic country reported 107 new deaths to put the tally at 2,462 since the outbreak began.

Statistics compiled and reported daily by Sweden’s Public Health Agency showed 681 new cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus that emerged in China late last year, bringing the accumulated number to 20,302.

Sweden has taken a less strict approach to curbing the the spread of the disease than most European countries, allowing most schools and businesses to remain open even as its mortality rate in the pandemic has run higher than those of its Nordic neigbours.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways on Wednesday said it now plans to start operating regular passenger flights from June 16, delaying the resumption for a second time this month.

The airline has opened bookings for flights across its network from June 16, it said in a statement, though cautioned that could change should current restrictions be extended.

Etihad on April 25 said it would extend the suspension until at least May 16 due to the coronavirus outbreak. It earlier planned to start resuming flights from May 1.

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday bans on international travel and large gatherings would stay in place even as the government eases lockdowns and moves towards a “Covid-safe” economy and society.

Some states have already started to lift restrictions amid a slowdown in new coronavirus infections - something Canberra has put down to its measures and widespread testing. Health minister Greg Hunt said Australia would expand screening further after securing 10 million more testing kits - enough to last it through 2020.

“When we move back into this more Covid-safe economy and society, it is important to know that with the easing of those restrictions, of course there will continue to be additional cases,” Morrison told reporters in the capital.

The German economy will contract by more than 6 percent this year, the DIW economic institute said on Wednesday, adding that the recession prompted by the coronavirus pandemic would be deeper than during the 2008 financial crisis.

DIW said Europe's biggest economy likely contracted by 2 percent in the first quarter and will shrink by 10 percent in the April-June period as large sectors of the economy were brought to a standstill by the outbreak.

Bentley will make wearing face masks compulsory at its British car factory and has introduced a two-metre distance between workers which will result in output halving over the first couple of weeks of production, its boss told Reuters.

The Volkswagen-owned brand’s Crewe site in north-western England is due to reopen on May 11, seven weeks since it shut due to the coronavirus outbreak, making it one of the first automakers to resume production in Britain.

The company is implementing around 250 additional measures, including temperature checks and one-way systems, alongside leaving a gap between each vehicle on the production line to maintain a safer distance, leading to an initial 50 percent cut in output.

Uganda has stepped up restrictions on trucks passing through its territory - limiting them to one driver and banning them from stopping over in hotels - in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

The landlocked country sits on some of east Africa’s busiest road cargo routes that funnel goods from ports in Kenya and Tanzania further inland to Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Drivers have already been complaining about long queues building up on the Uganda-Kenya border as officials from both countries carry out health checks, according to reports on NTV and other local media. 

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran rose by 80 in the past twenty four hours to 5,957, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV on Wednesday.

The total number of diagnosed cases of new coronavirus in Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the Middle East, has reached 93,657, he said.

Spain recorded 325 deaths from the novel coronavirus overnight, up from 301 reported the previous day, but health officials said the epidemic was evolving favourably as the country prepares for a gradual easing of its lockdown from next week.

The overall death toll from the virus rose by 453 to 24,275, the health ministry said, adding that the additional cases were from the previous days in the region of Galicia.

The number of diagnosed cases rose by 2,144 from Tuesday to 212,917, the world’s second-highest tally after the United States, the ministry said.

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The social media platform TikTok and the philanthropic Gates Foundation donated $10 million each on Wednesday to the vaccine alliance GAVI to help fund efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa.

GAVI said the funds would be used to distribute and deploy any new vaccines against Covid-19 once they are developed, trialled and licensed.

It would also help prevent "a potentially catastrophic impact on immunisation programmes across the developing world," GAVI Chief Executive Seth Berkley said in a statement.

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The US death toll from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday exceeded the 58,220 American lives lost during the Vietnam War as cases topped 1 million, according to a Reuters tally.

US cases have doubled in 18 days and make up one-third of all infections in the world, according to the tally.

The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.

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The United States has reported more than a million coronavirus infections only because of its testing, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, hailing the effort as being "much better than any other country in the world".

The Twitter comments came amid warnings from state public health officials that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.

"The only reason the US has reported one million cases of coronavirus is that our testing is sooo much better than any other country in the world," Trump said on Twitter.

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Polish hotels and shopping malls will reopen on May 4 and pre-schools will have the option to open on May 6, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday, part of efforts to ease restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Poland, the largest economy in the European Union’s eastern wing, started relaxing some of its curbs on public life earlier in April, alongside other countries keen to prop up industry damaged by the pandemic.

Morawiecki also reaffirmed the government’s plan to hold a presidential election as scheduled on May 10, or with a delay of a couple of weeks at most, despite calls from opposition parties and others for a much longer delay.

Spain’s lockdown is dragging one of Europe’s older-fashioned property markets into the 21st century, with estate agents scrambling to offer virtual visits and notaries lobbying to legalise e-signatures to offset a near-total halt of business.

In the latest episode of Spain’s real estate rollercoaster -which saw the sector boom and bust in 2007, sparking a deep recession - 99 percent of transactions have stopped during the battle against the coronavirus, Spain’s Notary Commission told Reuters.

“We’re definitely going down the virtual route. We’re teaching our brokers how to angle the camera. It will be very professional: a GoPro, lighting, one person talking and the other recording,” said Shirley Rhodes, commercial director at Lucas Fox, a Barcelona-based agency with a 17.5 million-euro ($19 million) turnover in 2019.

Spain’s real estate sector accounted for 10.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2019 and is a big draw for foreigners, who accounted for nearly one in five buyers in 2018, according to the General Council of Notaries.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has spoken against the lockdowns that have kept businesses throughout the US closed for more than a month.

He said, "America needs to reopen its economies." He also tweeted two media reports on how the lockdown is harming the US economy. Later, he clarified that social distancing needs to be followed, reported Bloomberg.

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Garbage haulers still collect trash. Cops are on the beat. Couriers deliver food and packages. Insurance agents work from home.

The coronavirus crisis would appear to have put the entire US economy on ice. Twenty-six million people have filed for unemployment in just a month, with millions more likely waiting in electronic queues at overtaxed state unemployment systems.

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Indonesia confirmed 260 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking the total in the Southeast Asian nation to 9,771, said health ministry official Achmad Yurianto.

Yurianto reported 11 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 784, while 1,391 people have recovered, Reuters reported. 

A boy peeks outside from a window, as large-scale social restrictions were introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 15, 2020/Reuters

More than 67,700 people have been tested.

Malaysia reported 94 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with no new deaths, the health ministry said.

The country has so far recorded a total of 5,945 infections, with 100 fatalities, Reuters reported. 

 Russia on Wednesday reported 5,841 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing its overall nationwide case tally to 99,399.

Activists of a local LGBT community put tape over their mouths while walking during a protest against discrimination in Saint Petersburg, Russia April 17, 2019. Reuters/Anton Vaganov/File Photo

The official nationwide death toll reached 972 on Wednesday after 108 people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, Russia's coronavirus crisis response centre said, Reuters reported. 

Bangladesh has confirmed the highest number of 641 coronavirus cases in a single day and eight more deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours.

With this, the death toll from the deadly virus rose to 163 and the number of total infections stood at 7,103, The Business Standard reported. 

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Turkey has extended the closure of schools until the end of May as part of its measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Education Minister Ziya Selcuk said on Wednesday.

Ankara announced the initial closure of schools on March 12 after it reported its first case of Covid-19 and now has nearly 115,000 cases with a death toll of nearly 3,000, Reuters reported. 

Singapore's health ministry confirmed 690 more coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking total cases there to 15,641.

Commuters wait for a transport hours before a lockdown on travel due to the coronavirus outbreak March 17, 2020/REUTERS

Most of the new cases are among migrant workers living in dormitories in the city-state, which has among the highest number of coronavirus infections in Asia, Reuters reported. 

The city of Beijing plans to ease quarantine rules for some domestic travellers from low-risk areas in China as soon as Thursday, according to two sources familiar with the situation, as the Chinese capital prepares for a major political gathering.

People arriving from elsewhere in China will no longer be required to be quarantined for two weeks unless they come from high-risk areas such as Heilongjiang in the north and some parts of Guangdong in the southeast, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the information has not been disclosed publicly, Reuters reported. 

Beijing's municipal government did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Currently, even Chinese citizens who reside in Beijing are not allowed to return home without first quarantining except under special circumstances, and those who refuse to do so or follow official rules to curb the contagion can be punished.

People wearing face masks walk out of Zhongguancun subway station following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China April 27, 2020/ Reuters

The easing in quarantine rules will not apply for travellers from overseas, the sources said.

Beijing started in March to quarantine all travellers from overseas, including Chinese citizens, at designated locations for 14 days.

As domestic confirmed cases of the virus decline, restrictions across the country have slowly eased. Beijing has not reported any locally-transmitted cases of the virus since April 15.

State media reported on Wednesday that parliament will start its key annual session on May 22, the latest sign that the country is trying to return to business as normal. The gatherings of the National People's Congress traditionally see more than 5,000 delegates descend on Beijing from all over China for at least 10 days.

The German cabinet will on Wednesday extend a travel warning for all tourism trips abroad until at least June 14, magazine Der Spiegel reported, saying that a Foreign Ministry document to that effect had been agreed with other ministries, Reuters reported. 

France on Tuesday reported 367 new coronavirus deaths, bringing the country’s toll since March 1 to 23,660 but with the number of people in intensive care continuing to decline.

A view shows the deserted Iena Bridge near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during a lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in France, April 8, 2020/ Reuters

The daily toll was lower than Monday’s 437, and came as the government announced plans to cautiously lift France’s epidemic lockdown from May 11, AFP reported. 

The health department said there were 221 fewer people in intensive care from a day earlier.

The US death toll from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday exceeded the 58,220 American lives lost during the Vietnam War as cases topped 1 million, according to a Reuters tally.

US cases have doubled in 18 days and make up one-third of all infections in the world, according to the tally, Reuters reported. 

The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.

Pedestrians walk on the street during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, April 17, 2020/Reuters

About 30% of the cases have occurred in New York state, the epicentre of the US outbreak, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania.

The US death toll since the first death recorded on Feb. 29 reached 58,233 on Tuesday, up more than 2,000 from the prior day.

The outbreak could take more than 74,000 US lives by Aug. 4, compared with an April 22 forecast of over 67,600, according to the University of Washington's predictive model

Mainland China reported 22 new coronavirus cases for April 28, up from 6 reported a day earlier, putting its total number of Covid-19 infections to date at 82,858.

The National Health Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that the number of imported cases involving travellers from overseas rose to 21 on Tuesday from 3 a day earlier. New asymptomatic cases, involving patients infected with the virus but not showing symptoms, fell to 26 from 40 the previous day, Reuters reported. 

The total number of deaths in the mainland from Covid-19 remained unchanged at 4,633.

China's parliament will start its key annual session on May 22, more than two months later than originally planned due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, the latest sign that the country is trying to return to business as normal.

The gathering, which will be in Beijing, is when China ratifies major legislation and unveils economic targets. The session was initially scheduled to start on March 5 but was postponed due to Covid-19, which has infected nearly 83,000 people and killed more than 4,600 on the mainland after emerging late last year in the central city of Wuhan, Reuters reported. 

Red flags flutter outside the Great Hall of the People during the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, China March 13, 2019/ Reuters

Conditions for holding the session have been met as the coronavirus epidemic situation has improved in the country and economic and social life gradually returned to normal, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the top decision-making body of the Chinese parliament as saying.

China's top political consultative body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has also proposed to start its annual session on May 21.

It's not clear yet how long the two meetings will last. The gatherings traditionally see more than 5,000 delegates descend on Beijing from all over China for at least 10 days, but the capital's local government has imposed stringent quarantine rules for anyone entering the city from elsewhere and policymakers are wary of a possible resurgence.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday that new hospitalisations for the novel coronavirus dropped to a one-month low and laid out a plan to employ thousands of case investigators under criteria for reopening his state.

Cuomo, who has traded barbs with US President Donald Trump over who was to blame for the crisis, also criticized federal agencies, the intelligence community and the mainstream press for failing to "blow the bugle" early enough, while arguing the primary responsibility for the pandemic did not lie with states, Reuters reported. 

"Where was everyone?" Cuomo asked rhetorically at a daily briefing, referring to the initial response after news emerged in December that China was grappling with a deadly new virus. "Governors don't do global pandemics."

In the United States more than 56,000 people have died from Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, the most of any country, according to a Reuters tally. New York accounts for nearly half of those deaths.

The three-day rolling average of the number of people newly hospitalized for Covid-19 fell to 953 in New York on Monday, Cuomo said, adding that intubations and total hospitalizations also fell.

It was the first time new hospitalizations dropped below the 1,000 level since March 24. An additional 335 New Yorkers died on Monday, about 100 fewer than the level three days ago.

With such metrics on an improving trend, Cuomo has in recent days shifted his focus to reopening his state, which is in lockdown until at least May 15. Cuomo has said he would reopen regions with fewer Covid-19 cases more quickly than areas like New York City, the epicentre of the crisis in the United States.