Two coronavirus cases confirmed in NYC by Mayor Bill de Blasio

NEW YORK CITY — Two more cases of novel coronavirus have been confirmed in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday morning.

A man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s, neither of whom traveled to a high-risk nation or reported contact with a known COVID-19 patient, both tested positive for the virus, the Mayor announced on television and Twitter.

Both patients are hospitalized in intensive care units and the city’s disease detectives are tracking down their closest contacts for testing, said the Mayor.

“We are going to see more cases like this as community transmission becomes more common,” de Blasio tweeted. “We want New Yorkers to be prepared and vigilant, not alarmed.”

De Blasio called on the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control to send more test kits, which he said the city urgently needs.

“Our single greatest challenge is the lack of fast federal action to increase testing capacity — without that, we cannot beat this epidemic back,” he wrote.