Cuomo ordered the closure of non-essential businesses such as restaurants and gyms in certain parts of the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx in New York City.

He also banned crowds and limited to 10 the number of people who can enter churches or temples in the so-called "red zones", where there are outbreaks of the coronavirus.

The restrictions will take effect from Wednesday - Friday at the latest - and will be reviewed in 14 days.

This represents a step back from the reopening of New York, the epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic in April and May, when there were more than 700 deaths per day in the state, a figure that has fallen to less than 10 in the last weeks.

Cuomo said that the outbreaks of the virus in some areas of the city are due to people not respecting the rules of social distancing and wearing a mask.

“This is no time to be tired. The virus doesn’t wear a mask,” criticized Cuomo

The areas where the bans will take effect, some of them in the suburbs of New York City, are about 1 mile in diameter.

On Monday Cuomo announced that schools in nine New York neighborhoods will be temporarily closed.

These public and private schools are in areas where the positive case rate has exceeded 3% for more than seven days in a row.

Two of the neighborhoods have registered positive test rates above 8%.

Large communities of Orthodox Jews live in all of these areas, who recently celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and are often reluctant to wear a mask.

Across New York State the positive test rate remains low at 1.2%.

The virus has killed more than 33,000 people across the state since March.