New York tops 1 million coronavirus cases

New York has become the fourth state to surpass 1 million coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic.

The Empire State reported 15,074 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 1,005,785 infections, according to data released on Saturday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) office.

The state also reported 128 new COVID-19 deaths, bringing this total to 30,337 deaths from the disease. 

The official number of cases in the state may be undercounted since many were infected when testing was largely unavailable in the spring, The Associated Press notes.

Texas, California and Florida are the only other states to hit the grim milestone.

California, which was second to reach the milestone after Texas, has now recorded over 2.34 million cumulative infections, the most of any state.

Texas has reported 1.56 million cases and Florida has logged 1.35 million infections.

Cuomo didn’t directly address the milestone in a statement on Saturday, but urged New Yorkers to still stay vigilant, noting that coronavirus vaccinations have begun.

“As daunting as it may seem after all this time, it’s critical that the rest of us remain tough and keep up our efforts to slow the spread,” Cuomo said. “We’ve already come so far and we will finally reach that light at the end of the tunnel if we all just do our part.”

New York’s record comes as the U.S. continues to see a surge in infections. The nation surpassed 20 million total cases on New Year’s Day and is inching closer to 350,000 deaths.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been 349,933 U.S. coronavirus deaths thus far.