Worst is over, says New York governor as COVID-19 death toll crosses 10,000
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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had said earlier that public schools in New York would remain shut until the end of the school period
As the coronavirus death toll in New York crossed 10,000, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared on Monday that the "worst is over".
"I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy," the New York governor said as he informed that said his administration was working on a plan to gradually reopen the economy.
Cuomo informed that 671 people had died in the last 24 hours as the total COVID-19 death toll in New York reached 10,056.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had said earlier that public schools in New York would remain shut until the end of the school period.
"There is nothing easy about this decision," the mayor said. However, Governor Cuomo said he had the authority to take that call.
"You can't make a decision just within New York City without coordinating that decision with the whole metropolitan region, because it all works together," Cuomo said.
New York state, with 19 million people, has registered more than 170,000 coronavirus cases even as the whole of United States reported 558,999 cases which is the highest in the world. Italy has the most number of cases after the US with 169, 496 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, Adriana Heguy, a geneticist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine who led the research, told AFP that the virus spread in the city after identifying local samples from Europe.