US sees decline in positive tests as key global metric eases
Matthew Rocco in New York and Steve Bernard in London
The rate of Covid-19 tests in the US that came back positive reached its lowest level in more than seven weeks as a key global metric showed an optimistic trend.
There were 25,179 new cases of Covid-19 in the US reported on Saturday, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. A total of 73,291 Americans have died, with states reporting 1,529 fatalities attributed to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
There have been 333,122 cases in New York, about one-quarter of the national tally. The state reported 572 new hospitalisations, the lowest since mid-March. In New Jersey, officials said there were 1,759 new positive tests – raising the cumulative tally to 137,085 – and the number of fatalities increased 166 to 9,116. Like New York, New Jersey has seen a drop in cases and hospitalisations.
In addition, the number of people dying from Covid-19 around the world each week has begun to ease more significantly, with a key metric reaching the lowest level in a month. The weekly rolling average, which provides a clearer picture of the underlying trend by smoothing fluctuations, has fallen to a 34-day trough of 5,132 in a sharp decline from the peak of 6,783 for the week ending April 18.
The US conducted more than 300,000 tests for a third consecutive day. Of the 300,842 new tests, 8.4 per cent came back positive, the lowest rate since March 16. New York, the state hit hardest by the pandemic, recorded an additional 226 deaths, bringing the total to 21,271.
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