New York City begins reopening 100 days after 1st COVID-19 case

After nearly three months of lockdown, New York City has entered the first phase of reopening, 100 days since it reported the first COVID-19 case.

"This is a powerful day," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday at a press briefing in Brooklyn. "It is the day that we start to liberate ourselves from this disease.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo greets workers cleaning inside a toy store in Grand Central Terminal. | The positive rate of daily COVID-19 testing dropped from 59 per cent nine weeks ago to 2 per cent on Sunday, as a result of both expanded testing capacity and a slowing rate of infection, said Cuomo.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has taken a series of measures to ensure safety, including installing no-touch payment scanners and distributing masks and hand sanitizers.

People wait for the train at Times Square during rush hour on the first day of phase one of the reopening after the coronavirus lockdown.

Signage on the floor of the Times Square subway platform asks commuter to maintain a safe social distance.

People enter the subway at Times Square during rush hour.

Commuters arrive at Grand Central Station with Metro-North during morning rush hour in New York City.

People wait for the train at Times Square during rush hour.

People walk past an open toy store in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood in New York City.

Retail stores were allowed to reopen, but with restrictions, under the city's phase one reopening plan.

Patrons wait for different stores inside of the New World Mall in Queens.

Patrons wait for products at the Doremi Pharmacy in Queens.

A child holds a bunch of balloons in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in New York City.

A man shops in front of an open antiques store in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood in New York City.

A woman walks through an open Cookies store in Brooklyn.

Multani Singh talks about keeping his business alive during nearly three months of shutdown.

Women line up as they wait to be admitted to the Shell Station women's clothing store.

Patrons wearing protective masks wait to enter a Chase bank location.

De Blasio said earlier this month that New York City could be ready for phase two by July.