The city’s coronavirus death toll continued climbing to alarming heights with 722 new COVID-19 fatalities over 24 hours, bringing the grim total to 12,199 by Friday afternoon.
The previous two days saw an increase of under 600 new deaths in the same 24 hour periods, according to statistics published by the city’s Health Department.
The death tally includes 7,890 people who tested positive for the virus before they passed away as well as 4,309 victims who never got a test but showed tell-tale symptoms of the disease.
Confirmed coronavirus cases also jumped from 117,565 Thursday to 122,148 Friday. Queens has the most COVID-19 cases at 37,477 followed by Brooklyn at 32,499, The Bronx at 27,014, Manhattan at 15,952 and Staten Island at 9,166.
Although cases and deaths continue to rise, other coronavirus metrics are headed in a more promising direction.
Intensive care unit admissions and hospitalizations for suspected COVID-19 are down, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced during his daily press briefing Friday.