(CNN) Refrigerated trailers to be used as makeshift morgues hummed outside two hospitals on Thursday as New York City deals with the surging death count in the epicenter of the nation's coronavirus pandemic.

The last time New York took such drastic measures was after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when the city medical examiner's office was tasked with identifying tens of thousands of body parts from the 2,753 people killed in the World Trade Center collapse.

The makeshift morgues signal the historic challenge posed by the national health crisis.

At least 281 people have died from Covid-19 across the city, Mayor Bill De Blasio said Thursday. There are 21,873 confirmed cases of the virus.

New York state, where 385 people have died from the virus, has more than 37,000 of the nation's more than 80,000 coronavirus cases.

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