Each is among a growing number of people - at least 10, as of Tuesday - who died after being exposed to the bitter cold that has persisted in New York City since late last Friday.

Their causes of death are still under investigation, but some showed signs of having succumbed to hypothermia. Officials said several victims were believed to have been living on the streets. At least six of the fatalities came early Saturday, as the temperature in the city fell to minus 13 degrees Celsius.

With the frigid weather expected to continue, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city was adding additional homeless outreach workers, opening new warming centres and instructing hospitals to limit discharges "to ensure that people who have nowhere to go are kept indoors."

But the rising death toll has also prompted questions about whether Mamdani`s nascent administration could have done more to protect the city`s most vulnerable residents ahead of the Arctic blast and the snowstorm that hit early Sunday.

One of the victims, a 52-year-old man living in Queens, was found Sunday morning with discharge papers in his pocket showing he had been released from Elmhurst Hospital, a city-run facility, on Friday, according to State Senator Jessica Ramos.