With restaurants in Brooklyn closing in rapid succession and lines at Covid-19 test centres swelling by the day, fears are growing in New York of a return to the nightmare of 2020, when the city was the global epicentre of the pandemic.

On Saturday, New York state announced a record number of daily cases for the second day in a row with almost 22,000 positive results.

In Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighbourhood alone, more than a dozen bars and restaurants have had to close temporarily amid a recent surge in infections among their workers and patrons, AFP reports.

Near popular McCarren Park, around 30 people were lined up at a medical van offering rapid tests.