New York has become the fourth state to exceed 1 million coronavirus infections since the pandemic began.
The Empire State reported 15,074 new cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 1,005,785 infections, according to data released on Saturday by the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo
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The state also registered 128 new deaths from COVID-19, totaling 30,337 deaths from the disease.
The official number of cases in the state can be underestimated, as many were infected when the test was virtually unavailable in the spring, The Associated Press notes.
Texas, California and Florida are the only other states to reach the dark milestone.
California, which was the second to reach the milestone after Texas, has now registered more 2.34 million cumulative infections, the maximum of any state.
Texas reported 1.56 million cases and Florida registered 1.35 million infections.
Cuomo did not directly address the milestone in a statement on Saturday, but urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant, noting that vaccinations against coronavirus have already begun.
“As scary as it may seem after all this time, it is critical that the rest of us remain firm and maintain our efforts to slow the spread,” said Cuomo. “We have already come this far and will finally reach that light at the end of the tunnel if we all do our part.”
The New York record comes as the United States continues to see an increase in infections. The nation overcame 20 million cases in total on New Year’s Day and is approaching 350,000 deaths.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there there have been 349,933 coronavirus deaths in the US so far.