The number of coronavirus cases in New York surged by more than 4,500 on Saturday, jolting the statewide number of infected past 11,600 on the eve of an unprecedented lockdown from Brooklyn to Buffalo aimed at containing the deadly bug.
New York City, which remained the epicenter of the nation’s COVID-19 crisis, accounted for the bulk of the alarming increase. More than 2,400 new cases were reported in the Big Apple, raising the total number of sick to 8,115, city officials said.
The virus killed at least 15 more people in the city on Saturday, officials said, bringing the death toll to 60. The day before, COVID-19 claimed 14 lives between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., a troubling rate of more than one an hour. The statewide coronavirus death toll meanwhile exceeded 70. (Text courtesy NYPost)