New York's coronavirus death toll jumped to 519 on Friday, according to the state's governor, who announced plans to set up four more temporary hospitals to cope with the deluge of patients.
The death count was up from 385 on the previous day, with Andrew Cuomo telling journalists that New York state -- the US hotbed of the pandemic -- has 44,635 confirmed cases.
"We're seeing a significant increase in deaths because the length of time people are on the ventilator is increasing, and the more it increases, the higher the level of deaths will increase," the governor said.
"We expect that to continue to increase. It's bad news, it's tragic news, it's the worst news -- but it is not unexpected news, either."