Coronavirus: Number of cases in New York doubles in a day

Mayor Bill de Blasio called for US military assistance as the number of confirmed cases in New York CIty doubled overnight

New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced on Wednesday that cases in the city had doubled (REUTERS)

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York City more than doubled overnight on Wednesday, with 1,871 people testing positive for the disease.

There were 948 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, had announced on Tuesday that the total number of confirmed cases stood at 923. It marks the largest one-day increase of the Covid-19 disease in New York.

One week ago, the total number of coronavirus cases in New York state was 216, and 11 in the week before that. The state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced on Wednesday morning that there were now 2,382 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York state, of which 1,871 were in New York City.

There have been at least 20 people across New York state who have died from the virus.

In an interview with CNN last night, New York City Mayor de Blasio expressed his concern that the rate of increase in coronavirus cases would continue to rise.

NYC health officials believe that there are enough medical supplies for the “immediate future” but not to meet increasing demands.

“Yesterday we saw a jump of a hundred cases, today we saw a jump of hundreds of cases,” said Mayor de Blasio.

“You are talking about a massive surge in demand. We have been appealing constantly to the federal government to start a supply system that will actually help our hospitals survive an unprecedented surge in cases. This is the problem.”

The Mayor added: “Hospitals are going to have massive new demands, and things like surgical masks – you just burn through those in a normal day let alone in an emergency”.

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“President Trump has to mobilise the United States military to fully act in the coronavirus situation.”

Asked by CNN news anchor Andrew Cooper if he wanted to see the United States military setting up hospitals in the streets of New York City, Mayor de Blasio said “I do’’.

“I am talking about the United States military going where they can save the most lives of Americans, and that’s places like New York, Seattle and California and soon that’s going to be a lot of other places”

With the number of cases across the US set to continue rising, Mayor De Blasio said Americans should look to California and its attempts at slowing the disease with minimal activity and an end to all non-essential work.