New York imposes curfew on bars and restaurants in ‘last chance’ to stop Covid-19 second wave

New York is imposing lockdown restrictions on bars, restaurants and gyms, with the mayor warning it is the city’s "last chance" to stop a second wave of Covid-19.

The venues would close at 10pm and indoor gatherings would be limited to 10 people, official said.

More restrictions would follow if necessary, said the governor, Andrew Cuomo, as the city faced a return to lockdown seven months after it was the epicentre of the pandemic.

The warning came as America again posted a record number of cases, with the daily tally of new infections hitting 145,000. The seven-day average of cases is more than 123,000.

Some 65,000 Americans are also now in hospital with Covid-19 and several states have begun to warn that wards will soon overflow.

NYS is taking action to stop the spread in response to rising COVID numbers.

Any establishment with a state liquor license, including bars and restaurants, must close at 10pm.

Gyms must also close at 10pm.

These new statewide rules will take effect Friday, 10pm.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 11, 2020

New York reported 4,820 additional virus cases, the most since April. The state has 1,628 people hospitalized for Covid, twice as many as a month ago.

"We’re seeing a national and global Covid surge, and New York is a ship on the Covid tide," Mr Cuomo said on Wednesday.

The city’s new measures “are appropriate at this point in time in anticipation of what we see as a potential spread,” he said. “If these measures are not sufficient to stem the spread, we will turn the valve more.”

Bill de Blasio, city mayor, said: “This is our last chance to stop a second wave. We can do it, but we have to act now.”

Deaths  in America from Covid-19 have also begun to rise. On Wednesday, at least 1,893 new deaths were reported from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University, the highest daily death toll the country has seen since early May.

An epidemiological forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, predicts the US death toll will be around 2,300 each day by January.