China donates 1,000 ventilators to New York

A donation of 1,000 ventilators from China to New York arrived at the city's JFK Airport on Saturday.

"We finally got some good news today. The Chinese government helped facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators. I thank the Chinese government, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, the Jack Ma Foundation, the Tsai Foundation and Consul General Huang," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted earlier today.

"This is a big deal and it's going to make a significant difference for us," Cuomo said at his daily press conference on Saturday.

Cuomo said at a briefing on March 27 he was seeking to obtain 30,000 ventilators for when the disease hits its apex in mid-April in the state as health experts have predicted.

He reiterated the importance of a ventilator so a seriously ill person can breathe and stay alive. ``If the person comes in and needs a ventilator and you don't have a ventilator, the person dies," Cuomo had said earlier.

As of Saturday, New York has 113,704 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 63,306 in New York City. The state has the largest number — around 39 percent — of confirmed cases in the US. As of today, 3,565 people have died due to COVID-19 in the state. There are 15,905 people in the hospital and 4,126 in ICU (intensive care units).