'You can't relax' - Vigilance urged as New York sees signs of coronavirus progress

FILE PHOTO: Medical technicians take a sample to test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a drive through testing site in Medford, Massachusetts, U.S., April 4, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans must resist the impulse to ease social-separation measures at the first glimpse of progress now being seen in the coronavirus battle, state government and public health leaders warned on Thursday, as the U.S. death toll surpassed 16,500.

Calls for heightened vigilance, countering talk from the Trump administration of reopening the economy next month, came as new evidence emerged that stay-at-home restrictions were working to flatten the arc of infections in New York state, the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic.