ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-NY, said COVID-19 numbers, many that had been on a steady rise since November, are down all across the state.

"I think at this point it's safe to say the holiday surge was anticipated, the holiday surge did happen, but the holiday surge is over," Cuomo said.

As a result, the governor announced Wednesday, most of the areas the state has designated as orange or yellow micro-cluster zones would no longer be designated as such. Five yellow zones remain, four in New York City, and one in Orange County.

"Those are the only zones remaining, these yellow zones," Cuomo said. "The orange zones are lifted."

The governor also said the state is looking at reconsidering the 10 p.m. curfew for gyms, bar, and restaurants, but at this time it remains in place.

"When you keep the restaurants open late, that tends to be more problematic," he said, "There tends to be more crowding. There tends to be more drinking, etc."

Some of the micro-cluster designations had been in place since before Thanksgiving with the state expanding the zones and moving some from yellow to orange a few weeks later. In those areas, the COVID-19 restrictions that existed prior to that — what the state called Phase 3 — remain in place.

"It's just the specific rules that applied to the zones which further limited mass gathering number, which increased the number of school testing, which related to indoor dining that really change here," Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa said.

Among the most significant changes, restaurants no longer in zones can allow tables of up to 10 people instead of four. Schools are also no longer mandated to test 20 percent of in-person students and staff weekly.

The impact of Wednesday's announcement would have been larger if not for a series of recent court decisions that have already limited the state’s ability to restrict businesses like salons, gyms, and restaurants or even to enforce the orange zone rules.