New York, March 28: There would be a sharp rise in demands for hospital beds in the next three weeks as the coronavirus spread could peak, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said. Addressing a press conference on Friday, Andrew Cuomo informed that the administration is planning to build eight temporary hospitals in New York to meet the demands. Schools must remain shut for another two weeks until April 15, Cuomo said. As Coronavirus Cases in US Cross 100,000, Donald Trump Takes Steps to Combat Pandemic.

According to the Governor, 44,635 people tested positive in New York on Friday, up about 7,400 from the previous day. In 24 hours, the US city witnessed 519 deaths up from the previous day's total of 385 deaths.

"We're seeing a significant increase in deaths because the length of time people are on the ventilator is increasing, and the more it increases, the higher the level of deaths will increase," Cuomo was quoted by Reuters as saying. Coronavirus Outbreak Live News Updates on March 28.

"We expect that to continue to increase. It's bad news, it's tragic news, it's the worst news -- but it is not unexpected news, either," he added. Cuomo said the hospitalization rate in his state -- which was once doubling every two-and-a-half days -- had slowed to doubling approximately every four days. "There is good news that the rate of the increase is slowing," he said. He projected the coronavirus spread could peak in New York in 21 days.

The United States, where 40 percent of Americans are under lockdown, has emerged as the epicentre of the pandemic this week, with new infections soaring and unemployment claims catapulting to a historic high. the US recorded 103,942 coronavirus cases during a week in which 3.3 million people officially registered as unemployed. A total of 1,693 people have died in the US due to the disease.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 28, 2020 11:57 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).