New York governor Andrew Cuomo has extended his executive order stating all non-essential workers must stay home for another two weeks as coronavirus cases increase.

The executive order for non-essential workers would go until at least 15 April, preventing people from gathering for Easter or Passover celebrations.

“It’s hard. It’s hard. But on the flip side, I say look at what happened in New Rochelle. Those gatherings that brought people together were religious gatherings and brought hundreds of people together, which was beautiful. But it made many, many people ill. And density is the enemy here,” Mr Cuomo said during his press conference on Sunday.

“You worship, worship the way you can, but the gatherings are just not a good idea.”

Mr Cuomo added he would continue to extend his executive orders across the state of New York every two weeks depending on now the pandemic escalates.

“This is not going to get better soon,” he said.

Confirmed cases in New York rose to 59,513 people infected, an increase of nearly 7,000 cases from yesterday after the state tested 16,000 people on Saturday. The death toll also rose with 965 dying from the virus.

The governor anticipated the number of deaths would continue to increase until the state was able to control the curve.

“I don’t see how you look at those numbers and conclude anything less than thousands of people will pass away,” Mr Cuomo said.

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Not only has the virus impacted residents, but it has also hurt the New York Police Department and Fire Department. There are 730 uniform police officers and more than 230 fire department workers who have tested positive with the novel virus.

New York state has the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the US by a significant margin, with the next state, New Jersey, at more than 11,000 confirmed cases.

Mr Cuomo did offer a glimmer of positive news about New York’s handling of Covid-19, saying the rate of infection was now doubling every six days versus previously doubling every three days.

The federal government and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released a strict travel advisory for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut on Saturday due to how the virus has spread in each state.