Covid-19: What made New York a breeding ground for coronavirus infections

Even as the New York governor on March 22 ordered all non-essential businesses to close and residents to stay at home, the city accounts for the bulk of infections and deaths in the US

New York, the coronavirus pandemic’s epicentre in the United States, has more coronavirus cases than any country and accounts for around half of all deaths in the US. Covid-19 has torn through New York with a frightening speed. Why was it so badly hit and could its leaders have done anything differently?

In New York, the cumulative death toll is higher than the fatalities suffered from 9/11, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in the terror attack on the US. By comparison, as of Friday, New York state had almost 160,000 confirmed Covid-19 infections, more