NEW YORK CITY — In an almost unbelievable twist of irony, the most cases of the new coronavirus in New York City have been found in the Queens neighborhood of Corona.

No New York City region has reported more positive COVID-19 tests than the zip code 11368 — which covers Corona, North Corona and Willets Point — with 947 cases reported as of March 31, city data show. More than 77 percent of the 1,227 Corona residents tested received confirmation they had the deadly virus, New York City Health Department data show.

The neighborhood's population is the most badly affected in New York City, which in turn has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. with 47,439 confirmed cases reported and 1,096 lives claimed since the disease was first spotted in the city just one month ago. All figures were as of March 31.

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New York is the only city among the top ten of Johns Hopkins University's list of places with the most reported deaths. The other nine are nations.

The Johns Hopkins University tracker reported Wednesday the U.S. has more cases than any other nation in the world with more than 206,000.



Queens has seen its numbers skyrocket, pushing the vast Elmhurst Hospital far past capacity just weeks into outbreak, with 13,869 COVID-19 cases as of March 31, data show.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been loathe to release hyperlocal data on the outbreak, but after reporters pleaded last week for more information, the Health Department began publishing localized maps. Health Department data show nearby Elmhurst has the second highest rate of positive cases with 831 confirmed COVID-19 patients and Borough Park in Brooklyn the third with 771.