US Surpasses China With Most Covid-19 Infections Globally, New York Reports Over 39,000 Cases

The US has reported over 85,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday (26 March), according to the data by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The country has surpassed China to become the nation with most COVID-19 cases in the world, according to the CSSE.

The nationwide tally grew over 10,000 cases in less than five hours. The state of New York has become the epicenter of the country's outbreak with 39,125 cases reported. New Jersey and California have reported 6,876 and 4,032 cases, respectively.

Total COVID-19-linked deaths in the US reached 1,290, while 365 of them occurred in New York City and 109 in Kings County of Washington state.

The Johns Hopkins University data showed that China (including the mainland and Hong Kong, and Macao) reported over 82,00 cases on Thursday.

China's National Health Commission reported 81,285 confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland by the end of Wednesday. Meanwhile, 453 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and 31 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide reached 531,860with 24,057 deaths, according to the CSSE.