The number of deaths in New York is falling, but officials are urging caution

With 550 deaths in New York, Saturday was the day with the smallest daily increase in more than two weeks, and the number of hospitalizations also fell, but officials are still warning citizens not to relax.

It is not yet time to open schools, businesses, or social gatherings, because the end of the crisis is not in sight.

Hospitals are still seeing nearly 2.000 new patients with COVID-19 a day, and nursing homes remain the most at risk, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

"Even though the number of patients in emergency rooms has decreased, that doesn't mean the crisis is over. This is not the time to open anything right away," Cuomo said at a news conference.

New York State recorded 540 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, the lowest number since April 1

Nearly 13.000 New Yorkers have died since March 1, when the first case of the corona virus was reported, the governor said.

The total does not include the more than 4.000 deaths in New York City for which lab tests did not confirm the virus was the cause.

More than 2.700 people have died in New York state nursing homes, far more than in any other US state.

The number of sick members of the New York Police Department is also decreasing.

That police department, the largest in the USA, announced that 5.324 of its members, or 15 percent, were sick on Saturday, while on April 9, as many as 7.155 police officers were sick - 20 percent of the total number.

So far, more than 2.000 members of the New York Police Department have returned to work after recovering from the coronavirus, police officials said.