New York, Nov 8 (IANS): The test positivity rate in the focus areas under the micro-cluster strategy, where the pandemic has been the most severe in New York State, was 4.22 per cent on Friday, up from 3.16 per cent one day earlier, tweeted Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The statewide positivity rate excluding these focus areas was 2.01 per cent, up from 1.84 per cent on Thursday, he said on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of the 163,291 tests reported on Friday, 3,587 were positive, or 2.19 per cent of the total, up from 1.99 per cent one day earlier, he added.

This was the third consecutive day that all the three major rates trended higher in the state.

"Every expert told us come the fall cases would go up, and that's what's happening around the country and the globe," Cuomo said in an official press release issued on Thursday.

"We got ready here in New York: we have our micro-cluster strategy and we have our additional testing. That's why we have the third lowest positivity rate in the country," he said.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported 33,670 coronavirus deaths so far in New York State, the worst in the country.