New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Andrew CuomoThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump, GOP allies prepare for SCOTUS nomination this week Fearless Girl statue in NYC dressed in lace collar to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg NYT editorial board remembers Ginsburg: She 'will forever have two legacies' MORE (D) announced Saturday that hospitalizations in the state continue to decline amid the coronavirus pandemic.

On Friday, 1,100 people were admitted to hospitals in New York. Cuomo said the state is trying to find out how it can return to a point where only hundreds of people are entering hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms daily.

"We are back where we were 21 days ago," Cuomo said at a press briefing. "Twenty one days of hell, but we’re back to where we were. ... We want to know how fast that decline continues and how low that decline gets."

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NEW: Hospitalizations in New York State continue to decline. "We are back where we were 21 days ago," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "We want to know how fast that decline continues and how low that decline gets." https://t.co/3aqHgmUAFZ pic.twitter.com/hUNnJY6wX8 — ABC News (@ABC) April 25, 2020

Cuomo said about 1,100 new cases were detected in the state on Friday and that 437 more people died from COVID-19, which is an uptick after trending lower for several days. On its deadliest day, New York reported 805 deaths on April 7.

As of Saturday, the New York State Department of Health has reported 271,590 positive cases and 16,162 deaths.

"All the numbers are basically saying the same, that we are in fact on the downside of the mountain," Cuomo said. "Even the number of new cases actually ticked down yesterday after being stable for a number of days."

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Cuomo also announced that New York is expanding diagnostic testing criteria so that first responders, front-line health care workers and essential workers can receive priority testing.

On Saturday, the state will begin antibody testing for health care workers at four New York City hospitals. By next week, front-line workers, such as police and transit employs, will be able to take antibody tests.

Cuomo also announced an executive order allowing independent pharmacies to conduct diagnostic coronavirus tests.

“That would quickly ramp up our collection capacity,” Cuomo said.