New York robbed of its hustle and bustle

More than 500 paramedic and emergency medical technicians, 2,000 nurses and 250 ambulances were heading to the city from across the US to help support a healthcare system that was being buried under an avalanche of coronavirus patients, De Blasio said on Tuesday.

The virus is taking a heavy toll on the city's police department, the nation's biggest. Nearly 1,200 officers, more than 3 percent of the force, have tested positive, Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said on Tuesday.

He added that about 15 percent of officers were on sick leave, at least four times the normal proportion. Five police department employees have died in the past week.

With the exception of ambulances and police cars, vehicles have largely deserted the streets of all five boroughs in the city, especially Manhattan.

Normally-crowded subway cars are empty; some of them occupied only by the homeless, stretched out asleep.

All museums and 31 Broadway shows have closed, while the annual Easter display of millions of flowers at Macy's flagship department store on now-deserted 34th Street has been canceled for the first time in 70 years.

The annual auto show at Javits Convention Center－now a field hospital with 1,000 beds for patients with non-coronavirus issues－has been called off for the first time since World War II.

All the city's restaurants and bars are closed, with many displaying "Takeout Only" signs.

About 154,400 people work in bars, restaurants, cafes and on food trucks, earning a total of $4.7 billion annually, according to a study last year by the city's comptroller's office.

Grocery stores are open. Signs stating "No hoarding", "Only two to a customer" and "Use plastic gloves to touch produce" remain on empty shelves.