The number of people infected in the US has exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000; more than 3500 of those deaths are in New York state. Gov Cuomo said the ventilators from China were expected to arrive Saturday (local time).
"This is a big deal and it's going to make a significant difference for us," Gov Cuomo said, adding that the state of Oregon volunteered to send 140 ventilators to New York.
Governors across the US have been desperately pleading for more supplies – particularly ventilators – and shopping global markets as they try to keep their states safe, as the Trump administration has limited access to a federal stockpile that's dwindling fast.
Gov Cuomo had said that his state's stockpile of ventilators would be exhausted in six days if the number of critically ill coronavirus patients kept growing at the current rate.
As of Saturday, more than 15,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalised in New York, and more than 4100 were in intensive care.