New York City will begin closing streets to traffic and ban close contact sports in city parks to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

He called the street closures "a pilot program" and said sports like basketball would be banned in city parks, first on a voluntary basis as long as people comply, in rules agreed with New York City officials.

Cuomo added that New York state measures to control the coronavirus appear to be working as the rate of hospitalizations has slowed in recent days.

There are now 58,000 coronavirus cases in the United States, with New York amounting for roughly half of those.

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