New York, October 4: Schools and non-essential business entities will be temporarily closed in nine neighborhoods of New York City where a resurgence in COVID-19 transmission has been reported. The localities where the shutdown will be imposed fall in Queens and Brooklyn, which comprises of areas sizing a large number of Orthodox Jew community members. New York's Daily COVID-19 Count Touches Pre-June Level.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday announced that a lockdown is necessitated to control the spread of virus in the nine neighbourhoods, as the positivity rate has climbed to 3 percent. In another 11 neighbourhoods of NYC, lighter restrictions would be imposed due to a rise in number of daily infections.

In all, the lockdowns would be imposed in 20 out of the 146 ZIP Codes of the city. Nine out of them would face a hard shutdown, whereas, a lighter form of restrictions will come into effect in 11 other neighbourhoods.

Blasio, in his address to the press today, said the decision to lockdown schools and non-essential business entities is "difficult". "Today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration," he said, adding that "it is a more difficult day".

The proposed lockdown would come into effect from Wednesday if granted approval by New York Governor Andrew M Cuomo. The jump in COVID-19 transmission rate in the autumn season raises fears of a "second wave" of the pandemic in upcoming winter months.

New York, one of the early epicentres of the coronavirus outbreak in the US, has so far recorded more than 251,000 cases, including nearly 24,000 deaths.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 05, 2020 12:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).