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An almost-empty Times Square in April. | Kena Betancur/Getty Images

NEW YORK — New York City will remain largely shut down at least into June, but could begin to ease some restrictions next month if progress in combating the coronavirus pandemic continues, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

“We’re clearly not ready yet,” de Blasio told reporters at a press briefing Monday.

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“Unless something miraculous happens, we’re going into June,” he said. “June is when we’re potentially going to be able to make some real changes, if we can continue our progress.”

The virus has killed 19,931 people in the city, and the number of confirmed cases stands at 178,766, according to city data.

School has already been canceled for the rest of the academic year, and public events have been called off through the end of June. Under a state order — which could begin to ease at the end of this week for less-affected upstate regions — gatherings of any size are banned, nonessential businesses are closed and people must stay six feet apart from each other.

In the latest data, the number of patients newly hospitalized for Covid-19 fell to 55, and the number of people in intensive care units at public hospitals dropped modestly.

“We’re going to always go by the data. It’s been pretty good, and pretty consistent. It’s not quite been what we need it to be,” de Blasio said. “We’ve got to guard against a boomerang, and at any point if the data started to change, that then delays the moment when you could do any kind of loosening of restrictions.”



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