New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the number of new daily COVID-19 hospitalizations had returned to the level it was at when he issued a statewide closure of nonessential businesses nearly two months ago.

“521 people were hospitalized with the disease on Saturday and 207 died of it. The hospitalization figure takes us right back to where we started this hellish journey. Where we are today is basically, with the number of new cases, is basically right where we were when we started. It has been a painful period of time between March 20 to May 9”, - Cuomo said.

Death figures have lagged those tracking hospitalizations. Cuomo said that 207 fatalities “takes us back to almost where we started, about a week in, as the number of deaths started to increase”.

“Still terribly high, but better”, - he added.