New York City reported no new coronavirus deaths on Saturday for the first time since early March, according to Sunday’s preliminary health data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The Big Apple was the epicenter early on when the coronavirus first hit the United States. The city’s health data has recorded a total of 18,670 confirmed deaths since the pandemic began, including a record 597 deaths in one day on April 7.
The milestone of zero deaths in a day comes as the virus has spiked in other regions of the United States, particularly the South and West, according to The Hill.
Although the city's performance in eventually controlling the outbreak could serve as a model of how to do it in other places, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Friday that the coronavirus would eventually flare up again in New York, according to NBC New York.
"You're going to see our numbers and the Northeast numbers probably start to increase because the virus that you see now in the south and the west ... it's going to come back here," he said, according to Spectrum News.
"It is going to come back here. It's like being on a merry-go-round. It's totally predictable. And we're going to go through an increase. I can feel it coming. And it is so unnecessary, and so cruel."
Cuomo added that although New York state — along with New Jersey and Connecticut — has placed a 14-day quarantine in effect for people who travel from states with high infection rates, this won't be completely effective in halting the spread.