As of Sunday afternoon, there are more than 755,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., and the death toll has surpassed 41,000. The state of New York has the highest numbers with over 129,000 positive cases and close to 14,500 confirmed deaths in New York City alone. 

However, there are signs that recent stringent measures by the state government to slow the spread of the virus, such as mandating the use of masks in public, as well as procurement of personal protective equipment and ventilators primarily from China, are effective.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday the state's epidemic is "on the descent," after around 6,000 new cases were registered the previous day, marking a consecutive four-day decline, according to New York State's health department. 

In a bid to help reopen the state's economy, Cuomo also announced Sunday that authorities plan to test thousands of residents this week for COVID-19 antibodies, so that scientists can extrapolate on the findings to work out the number of possible infections in the state.

However, with a lack of previous experience in large-scale testing and the state's inability to conduct a universal test, finding out the true scale of the pandemic in New York remains a difficult task.