New York has become the fourth state to surpass 1 million coronavirus infections since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Empire State reported 15,074 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 1,005,785 infections. data released on Saturday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
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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 undervalued, as many cases were infected when testing was largely unavailable in the spring, The Associated Press notes.
Texas, California and Florida are the only other states to reach the grim milestone.
California, which reached the milestone second after Texas, now has a record 2.34 million cumulative infections, most of any state.
Texas has reported 1.56 million cases and Florida has applied 1.35 million infections.
Cuomo did not directly address the milestone in a statement Saturday, but urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant after all, noting that vaccinations against the coronavirus have begun.
“As daunting as it may seem after all this time, it’s critical that the rest of us stay tough and continue our efforts to slow the spread,” said Cuomo. “We’ve come this far and we will finally reach that light at the end of the tunnel if we all do our part.”
New York’s record comes as the US continues to see an increase in infections. The nation surpassed 20 million cases in total on New Year’s Day and approaching the 350,000 dead.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been 349,933 deaths from coronavirus in US so far.