PLAGUE ON HOLD IN APPLE
NY ‘positive’ tests fall to 1 percent
Data released Saturday give continued reason for optimism in New York’s battle to contain the coronavirus, even as troubling nationwide stats revealed the number of new infections across the US topping 30,000 — the highest tally since May 1.
A total of 716, or 1 percent, of the 68,830 New Yorkers tested Friday were positive for the coronavirus, down from 796 the previous day, the state Department of Health announced Saturday. Of those, 391 were in New York City.
There were 24 virus deaths Friday, down one from the day before.
The Big Apple is set to begin Phase Two of the state’s reopening plan Monday, which will allow for outdoor dining, inperson shopping and the longawaited opening of hair salons and barber shops.
But Southern and Western states were seeing spikes in cases.
Florida health officials announced Saturday that the Sunshine State logged 4,049 new COVID-19 cases, a new high which topped two straight days of record-breaking numbers. There were also 40 deaths.
The spike led Major League Baseball to close spring training sites in the state and in Arizona, where cases have also increased.
The move prompted Gov. Cuomo to announce Saturday that the Mets and Yankees would return to their home stadiums in New York City to train.
Cases also rose Saturday by 331 in Oklahoma, where President Trump held a rally.
Worldwide, Brazil topped 1 million cases of the coronavirus, the only nation other than the US to pass the grim milestone. Pope Francis held his first audience Saturday since Italy lifted its coronavirus lockdown, bringing together more than 200 doctors and nurses who battled the pandemic in the country’s hardest-hit region.
“You were one of the supporting pillars of the entire country,” the pope told the crowd. “To those of you here and to your colleagues all across Italy go my esteem and my sincere thanks.”
Officials in Beijing are hoping that expanded testing will help curb a new outbreak of the deadly bug linked to a wholesale food market in the city of 20 million.
In Great Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government may loosen social-distancing rules that say people should remain two meters apart. Business groups are lobbying for the distance to be cut in half.