New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took a coronavirus test during his televised briefing, in a bid to encourage more people to take the tests.
"I’m not in pain, I’m not in discomfort," he said after a doctor, dressed in PPE, conducted the test. "Closing my eyes was a moment of relaxation. There is no reason why you should not get the test."
Cuomo urged New Yorkers to get tested if they had symptoms or were exposed to the virus.
He added that the screenings had been expanded to include those people who've returned to work, medical and nursing-home personnel.
"We just don't have enough New Yorkers coming to be tested," Cuomo said, urging more people to get screened as parts of the state reopen some non-essential activities.
So far, New York has registered more than 350,000 cases and over 22,000 deaths.
Hijackers being seated next to some of the scores of passengers taken hostage after insurgents took control of a train in southwest Pakistan, has complicating rescue efforts, security sources said on Wednesday.
The captain of a ship, who has been arrested in connection with a crash into a US flagged tanker off the coast of England is a Russian national, the German company which owns the vessel said on Wednesday.
A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 47-year-old woman and wounded at least nine other people, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Wednesday.
Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump's increased tariffs on all US steel and aluminum imports took effect on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to reorder global trade norms in favour of the US that drew swift retaliation from Europe.