New York tamed the beast, state leader says

While more than 20 states in the US are seeing rise in COVID-19 cases, New York state is reporting the lowest number of deaths and record-low hospitalizations since the coronavirus hit the state in March.

"We did it," Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday of the battle in the country's worst-hit state. "We have tamed the beast. We haven't killed the beast, but we are ahead of it. We are in control of our own destiny."

Cuomo said the state's death toll－32 on Friday－was the lowest since the beginning of the New York outbreak in March "when this nightmare began".

Statewide patient hospitalizations also reached a new low, of 1,734, with positive test rates stable at 1.8 percent in the city, an encouraging sign, the governor said.

But on Saturday, viral videos showing hundreds of people partying in the streets of Manhattan's East Village area without masks or social distancing while illegally drinking outdoors prompted Cuomo to tweet: "Don't make me come down there."

Cuomo warned New York City and Long Island officials on Sunday that their reopenings were at risk if they do not stop further large public gatherings that he said are threatening progress on curbing the spread of the virus.

"We're not going to go back to that dark place because local governments didn't do their job" and people don't take the proper precautions, Cuomo said, adding that he personally called "a couple of bars and restaurants myself when I saw pictures of their situations (and told) them, 'You're playing with your (liquor) license'".

Cuomo said there have been 25,000 complaints of violations of social distancing and other emergency requirements statewide, mostly in Manhattan and the Hamptons, an affluent beach area on Long Island.

"Yes, there is a very real possibility that we would roll back the reopening in those areas," he said at a briefing on Sunday.

Deaths forecasts

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said on Friday that its forecasts suggest the US will likely see 124,000 to 140,000 COVID-19 deaths by July 4, Independence Day.

The CDC said that the forecasts suggested that more virus-related deaths were likely over the next four weeks in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah and Vermont than those states saw over the past four weeks.

As of Monday morning, more than 2 million people in the US had been infected by the virus and at least 115,000 had died from it, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The CDC also released new information about the risks of holding events. It labeled "highest risk" any large gathering that draws attendees from outside the area or where it is difficult for people to stay at least 1.8 meters apart.

The CDC guidance comes amid massive nationwide street protests against police brutality and as US President Donald Trump prepares to hold his first large indoor political rally since March.