NEW York state has recorded 731 new coronavirus deaths, marking the biggest one-day jump in the outbreak.

The state's death toll since the beginning of the outbreak is now 5,489, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

More people have now died from coronavirus in New York City than perished in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre.

At least 3202 people have been killed in the city by the virus, according to a new count released by city health officials.

The deadliest terror attack on US soil killed 2753 people in the city and 2977 overall, when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001.

The coronavirus has again made New York ground zero in a national tragedy and the centre of a crisis that is reshaping Americans' lives, liberties and fears.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a coronavirus briefing last month that "9/11 transformed society ... You had a sense of vulnerability that you never had before, which I feel to this day".

He added: "There was a trauma to 9/11. But as a society, as a country, we have been blessed in that we have not gone through something as disruptive as this."

The coronavirus death toll has mounted over the course of just a few weeks.

The city recorded its first on March 13, less than two weeks after confirming its first infection.

Elsewhere in New York, a crew member of a navy hospital ship sent to the city for the coronavirus outbreak has tested positive for the disease.

The USNS Comfort crew member tested positive on Monday and was being isolated, the navy said.

The positive test will not affect the 1000-bed hospital ship's mission to receive patients, according to the navy.

The Comfort has treated about 40 non-Covid-19 patients since arriving in the city last week, prompting complaints it was doing little to help overburdened hospitals in the area.

President Donald Trump said on Monday he agreed to take Covid-19 patients aboard the ship after speaking to Cuomo.

Federal officials say emergency patients will now be seen on the ship, whether or not they have the virus, though the ship can only isolate a small number of patients.

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