COVID-19 Rate Hits New High of 3.9% in New York

COVID-19 infection rates are increasing in New York, the city's Mayor says in a tweet. "We're going to continue to be guided by facts and data as we fight back against COVID19 and reopen our city," the mayor said on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The rate topped 3 per cent last week and has remained above the level ever since. Three per cent is deemed by the municipal government as a threshold to a second wave of the pandemic.

On Sunday morning, de Blasio announced that New York City's public elementary schools will reopen one week later as the city is striving to recover from the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

"Reopening our NYCSchools buildings is paramount to recovering from COVID19. Today we can announce that we plan to reopen buildings for: 3-K, Pre-K and grades K-5 on Monday, December 7; District 75 schools at all grade levels on Thursday, December 10," the mayor tweeted.

"Upon reopening, weekly COVID19 testing will be in effect and testing consent forms will be required for our students to return," he said.

"Finally, as we reopen, wherever possible we will move to 5 day a week in-person learning. We want our kids in the classroom for as much time as possible. Our families do, too," he added.

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As of Saturday afternoon, the coronavirus deaths added up to 24,260 and the confirmed cases to 307,181 in New York City, according to The City, a project that tracks the spread of confirmed COVID-19 infections and fatalities in New York City.

The information is provided by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the governor's office, The COVID Tracking Project and the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

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Source-IANS