US: 98 NYPD members test positive for coronavirus

WASHINGTON

New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said Sunday that 98 members of the NYPD have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Speaking at a press conference with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Shea said 70 of the confirmed cases are uniformed officers.

The other 28 are civilian members of the police department, according to Shea. Three members of the department are hospitalized.

"In terms of the testing, the numbers are going up because the testing in the entire city is going up. So that is not unexpected," he said.

Shea added that the department had not tracked down any members of the public that the infected police officers had contact with while working.

"We are in a new reality, that that is not doable," said de Blasio.

The novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, China last December and has spread to at least 169 countries and regions, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

There are more than 329,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with the death toll approaching 14,500, while over 97,000 have recovered.

The virus has infected more than 32,700 people in the U.S. and killed at least 402, including 114 in New York.