New York nursing homes must start twice-weekly coronavirus testing for all staffers and will no longer be sent Covid-19 patients leaving hospitals, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday after facing criticism over the handling of nursing facility outbreaks, according to AP.

The new testing requirements and ban on hospitals sending coronavirus patients to nursing homes came a day after an AP report in which residents' relatives, nursing home watchdogs and politicians from both parties criticised the Cuomo administration's policies on both.

Of the nation's more than 26,000 coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a fifth of them, about 5,300, are in New York, according to a count by The Associated Press.