Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have fallen below 1,000 patients for the first time since March, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday said in an interview with CNN. 

Total hospitalizations in New York now stand at 996 people due to the virus as the infection rate over the last week has remained at around 1 percent of the tens of thousands of daily tests conducted. 

The sharp decline in hospitalizations comes after New York was an epicenter for the virus for much of the spring, expanding hospital capacity in the process to handle the influx of patients. 

New York's 14-day quarantine requirement is now in effect for people entering New York from states with high COVID-19 infection rates, including California,Texas and Florida. New Jersey and Connecticut also have quarantines in place.

Cuomo in the interview said the quarantine will be enforced with inspections of people who records have shown traveled out of those states into New York.  

The governor has differentiated what New York's quarantine is doing compared to efforts by Rhode Island earlier this year that halted drivers with New York license plates. Cuomo has said New York's quarantine is not a "blockade" from entering the state.