The number of new cases of coronavirus and hospital admissions across the country fell further last week – though the death toll remains high, according to reports.
The number of cases fell 17 percent in the week through January 27, while COVID-19 hospital admissions fell 10 percent, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
It marked the second straight week of declines in both categories.
But the death toll from the virus remains at a number not seen prior to this month – last week, it rose 7 percent with an additional 22,797 reported fatalities.
However, deaths lag behind declines in cases and hospitalizations.
“Even with cases falling in the US, we could still have a week or more with very high death rates,” said the researchers behind the project.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that the seven-day positivity average for COVID-19 tests fell for the 23rd consecutive day in the Empire State.
“We’ve been dealing with a holiday wave driven by increased social activity,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The increase is slowing down.”
“In the here and now the news is very good, but keep an eye on the UK variants and the other variants as they all suggest that more diligence will be needed,” he said.
More contagious mutations or variants of the virus have broken out in the UK and South Africa – and both have now been discovered in patients in the US.
Despite the silver lining, Cuomo also said Saturday that the dark cloud of the pandemic remains over the state – the overall positivity rate in New York City has increased from the previous day, from 4.65 percent to 4.75 percent.
Health experts also warn that a reduction in the number of tests in recent weeks could cause a false dip in the number of new cases, the tracking project said.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US had recorded more than 26 million cases and 440,000 deaths as of Sunday.