NY death toll surpasses 10,000

MADRID (AP) — New York’s coronavirus death toll topped 10,000 on Monday even as the absence of fresh hot spots in the United States or elsewhere in the world yielded a ray of optimism in global efforts against the disease, though a return to normal was unlikely anytime soon.

Officials around the world worried that halting quarantine and social distancing measures could easily undo the hard-earned progress.

Still, there were signs that countries were looking in that direction.

Spain permitted some workers to return to their jobs, a hard-hit region of Italy loosened its lockdown restrictions and grim predictions of a virus that would move with equal ferocity from New York to other parts of America had not yet materialised.

New York state’s 671 new deaths on Sunday marked the first time in a week that the daily toll dipped below 700.

Almost 2,000 people were newly hospitalised with the virus Sunday, though once discharges and deaths are accounted for, the number of people hospitalised has flattened to just under 19,000.

“This virus is very good at what it does. It is a killer,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday during a state Capitol news briefing.

As the coronavirus throws millions out of work and devastates economies worldwide, governments are struggling with the delicate balance between keeping people safe from a highly contagious disease and making sure they can still make a living or have enough to eat.

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