New York state recorded 778 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, up from 671 the day before, but new hospital admissions and infections were down, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

The rise in the single-day toll brought the total number of deaths in the state -- America's coronavirus epicenter -- to 10,834, Cuomo told reporters. The 24-hour toll was close to the state's single-day high of 799 reported on Thursday of last week.

But Cuomo said infections continued to slow, with the average rate of hospitalizations and intubations down.

The governor added that new hospital admissions were around 1,600 on Monday, down from a high of more than 3,400 recorded in early April. "We are reducing the rate of infection," Cuomo said. "We are changing the curve, every day. We've shown that we control the virus, the virus doesn't control us," he added.

New York has borne the brunt of America's deadly outbreak, accounting for almost half of the country's fatalities. More than 23,700 people have died from COVID-19 across the United States, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Cuomo announced on Monday that he is working on a plan to reopen New York gradually following a weeks-long shutdown, declaring the worst of the outbreak "over."

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