New York: The US state of New York lost 731 lives to COVID-19 from Monday to Tuesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 5,489 while marking the deadliest 24 hours yet since the pandemic took hold here, said Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Behind every one of those numbers is an individual, is a family, is a mother, is a father, is a sister, is a brother. So a lot of pain again today for many New Yorkers and they’re in our thoughts and prayers, said Cuomo at his daily briefing on coronavirus on Tuesday, reported Xinhua news agency.
Meanwhile, the numbers of daily incubations and ICU admissions declined for another day, and the state is reaching a plateau in the total number of hospitalizations, which are all “good news,” said Cuomo.
The number of deaths is a lagging indicator to the number of hospitalizations, explained Cuomo, emphasizing that the flattening of the curve is still just a projection. It still depends on what we do and what we do will affect those numbers, he noted.
The governor said he’s thinking about restarting the economy with a smart approach, first with those who have resolved from the disease and developed immunity.
Pakistan recorded a sudden spike of 577 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 patients to 4,005 on Tuesday.
A senior official warned that the situation can go out of hands. According to Ministry of National Health Services, Punjab registered the maximum number of 2,004 cases, followed by Sindh 986, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 500, Gilgit-Baltistan 211, Balochistan 202, Islamabad 83 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) 19.
So far 54 people died due to the disease, while 429 have recovered. As many as 39,183 people have been tested so far. At least 50 prisoners in worst-hit Punjab province have tested coronavirus positive.
Paris on Tuesday banned daytime jogging to keep people from bending anti-coronavirus lockdown rules as France breached 10,000 deaths due to the outbreak.
Other cities also announced stricter restrictions, some controversial, on the day top health official Jerome Salomon told journalists 10,328 people had died of COVID-19 in France since March 1.
Of these, 7,091 had perished in hospitals — 597 in the last 24 hours — and 3,237 in old age homes, Salomon said, warning the epidemic is continuing its progression.
“We are in the ascending phase of the epidemic, even if it is slowing a bit,” he said, adding “we have not yet reached the peak.”
Senior government officials warned it was too early to think of lifting the nationwide lockdown which entered into force on 17 March and is set to run until 15 April, for now.