New York governor Andrew Cuomo believes the state has reached ‘the other side of the mountain’ in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

He added new infections of the virus had fallen to the same rate as they were on March 19, two days before the state went into lockdown.

Cuomo said the state was recording 488 new cases per day, which is ‘right where we started before we went into the heart of this crisis’.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the state has had 335,395 confirmed coronavirus cases and 26,641 deaths.

However, it emerged yesterday the true figure could be even higher after analysis revealed a potential further 5,000 related deaths.

Research carried out by federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the city had 24,000 more deaths in the period from mid-March to early May than usual. Of these deaths, 5,300 had been attributed to the virus.

The city's mayor Bill de Blasio said at his own press conference, if things do not ‘miraculously change’ lockdown measures could remain ‘going into June’.

Cuomo has said he will ease measures in parts of the state where the pandemic has not hit as hard, starting with the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley and the Finger Lake.

The three upstate regions will be able to conduct some business activity from May 15. 

He said: “This is the next big step in this historic journey, all the arrows are pointed in the right directions”