New York, Oct 18 (IANS): Movie theatres in New York State, except New York City, can reopen at 25 per cent capacity with up to 50 people per screen starting from October 23, state Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Theatres will only open in counties that are below 2 per cent of Covid-19 test positivity rate on a 14-day average and have no cluster zones, Xinhua news agency quoted Cuomo as saying on Saturday.

Masks will be required at all times except when audience are seated and are eating or drinking.

Assigned seating and social distancing between parties will be required in all theaters, and additional staffing is also required to guarantee full control of the situation, he added.

According to the Governor, the state carried out 159,972 Covid-19 tests on Friday, 1,784 were positive, or 1.11 per cent of the total.

Once the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, New York state has reported more than 488,000 Covid-19 cases, of which New York City accounted for over 258,000.

The death toll in the state stood at 32,959.

As of Sunday, the US continued as the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 8,106,384 and 219,286, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University.