New York sees drop in new hospitalizations, deaths keep rising

FILE PHOTO: A patient is wheeled from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to an ambulance during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Borough of Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S., April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Stefan Jeremiah

(Reuters) - New York state saw a sharp drop in the number of people newly admitted to a hospital in the past 24 hours to the lowest level since the coronavirus outbreak began, a sign that social distancing steps were working, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

But Cuomo also disclosed that the number of deaths increased to 799 on Wednesday, a record high for a third day, and talked about a growing economic toll on the state that he said far exceeded the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.