Andrew Cuomo
Andrew CuomoReuters

Social distancing appears to be slowing the spread of the coronavirus in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, according to AFP.

In his daily update on efforts to contain the deadly pandemic, Cuomo said projection rates suggested hospitalizations were increasing at a slower rate than before.

"The arrows are headed in the right direction," he told reporters.

Cuomo said New York was still "on the way up the mountain" and wouldn't meet the peak of declared cases for another three weeks.

He added, however, that projections showed that hospitalizations were now doubling every 4.7 days as opposed to every two days as was the case on Sunday.

The state's almost 20 million residents have been confined to their homes since Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses closed on Sunday.

He said that the number of confirmed infections in Westchester County, the origin of New York's outbreak, had "dramatically slowed" following a two-week containment.

New York has 30,811 declared cases, up by 5,146, Cuomo said Wednesday.

Almost 18,000 of those are in New York City, which reported almost 3,000 new cases, he added.

Some 192 people have died in the city, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration advised that individuals leaving New York self-quarantine for 14 days to avoid potentially spreading the coronavirus.

Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, made the recommendation during a press conference.

“Everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining for the next 14 days to ensure that the virus doesn't spread to others, no matter where they have gone, whether it's Florida, North Carolina, or out to…Long Island,” she said.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Cuomo called on President Trump to introduce a "rolling deployment" whereby New York, as the worst hit, receives most of the country's equipment, before passing it to other states.

"Send us the equipment that we need. Send us the personnel. As soon as we get past our critical moment we will redeploy that equipment and personnel to the next hotspot. I will personally guarantee it," Cuomo said.