New York, Dec 26 (IANS): In New York City, 1,828 people have been shot so far in 2021, surpassing the figure of 1,821 in the same period in 2020 which was the worst crime surge year in more than a decade.

Data from the New York Police Department (NYPD) has revealed that by December 19, the number of shooting incidents in the city's five boroughs reached 1,526, as compared with 1,490 during the same period last year, reports Xinhua news agency.

In the past few days following December 19, shootings continued in the city, including five people shot on Christmas Eve in two separate incidents in Brooklyn, and a 27-year-old NYPD school safety agent, who was shot dead on Thursday in Queens, with two others injured in the same case, according to the NYPD.

This makes this year's number of shooting victims and incidents even larger.

According to statistics on the NYPD website, the city recorded 1,868 shooting victims in 2020, a steep rise of 102 per cent over the number of 923 in 2019, while shooting incidents rose from 777 to 1,531, a rise of 97 per cent.

In 2020, shooting victims were mostly minority, with 73.9 per cent of them being black and 22.5 percent Hispanic, according to NYPD statistics.

Blacks and Hispanics also accounted for 65.0 per cent and 26.4 per cent of murder victims, respectively, in New York City in 2020.