New York's daily coronavirus infection rate slipped below 1% again, with 776 new cases of the virus confirmed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office announced Friday.

Ten people have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Hospitalizations have declined by 48 cases to 765 patients, the lowest number since March 18.

"Too many leaders throughout the country are still playing politics with this virus," Cuomo said in a statement.

"Viruses respond to science and data — not political opinion. We know the prescription: masks, social distancing, and hand washing. That's how we bent the curve in New York and that's how we've kept our numbers so low as we see frightening spikes in the rest of the country. We need to keep being smart — and smart means enforcement of the health orders we've put in place that will keep us healthy and prevent us from going back to the hell we went through."

In all, 25,024 New Yorkers have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic.