The United States is hit hard by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. About 5,45,000 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the US as of Sunday, and roughly 21,600 have died of the highly contagious illness.

New York has one of the world’s highest death tolls; the city has seen 6,898 virus-related deaths so far.

So why is New York so badly hit? Here’s exploring some of the reasons:

Density: America’s financial capital has 8.6 million inhabitants. There are 10,000 people per square kilometre, making it the densest city in the US. Millions of commuters brush up against each other on its packed subway system every day, while keeping distance on its sometimes narrow sidewalks can be difficult.

Tourism: New York gets more than 60 million tourists a year and is entry point to America for many travellers, meaning anyone carrying the virus is likely to start infecting others there first. American geneticists estimate that it started spreading there from Europe in February, before New York’s first confirmed case on March 1.

Poverty: The Big Apple is also characterised by massive socio-economic inequality. Overcrowded, deprived areas – particularly in the Bronx and Queens where many people already suffer health problems and lack medical care – have experienced the highest rate of infections.

The United States has been recording nearly 2,000 deaths a day from the coronavirus. Worst-hit New York recorded another 758 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The United States, which has 4.25 percent of the world’s population, accounts for almost a fifth of the world’s nearly 110,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the disease first emerged in China late last year.