NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 test positivity rates remained steady on Thursday in New York State, with a 4.84 percent positivity rate in the "Red Zone" focus areas, said Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday.

A total of 4,133 test results were reported within the "Red Zone" focus areas, where the pandemic has been the most severe, yielding 200 positive results, or a 4.84 percent positivity rate, "unchanged from the day before," said Cuomo in an official press release.

In all the areas statewide, not counting the "Red Zone" focus areas, 131,906 test results were reported, yielding 1,507 positives, or a 1.14 percent positivity rate, he said.

The state's overall positivity rate was 1.25 percent with focus areas included, said the governor, adding that the "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 11.7 percent of all positive test results reported to the state on Thursday, and 11.9 percent of all positive case results reported to the state this current week.

The state is currently focused on a handful of clusters, and "we are addressing these clusters through our targeted approach to ensure that they don't become community spread," said Cuomo.

"As we go through the fall and into the winter and cases continue to rise across the country, it's going to take the work of all New Yorkers to maintain our progress. We cannot and will not risk going backwards to where we were in the spring," he said.

"Our progress is thanks to New Yorkers, who rose to the occasion and came together like no other community. But we have to keep it up -- we must all keep washing our hands, wearing our masks and remaining socially distant. This is about caring for one another and being New York Tough, which means being loving," he added.

According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. coronavirus death toll reached 218,097 as of Friday afternoon, and the number of confirmed cases topped 8 million. New York remains one of the worst-hit states in the country. Enditem

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