At 85,840, USA Overtakes China As The Country With The Most Cases Of Novel Coronavirus In The World 

The U.S. has overtaken China as the country with the most cases in the world of the novel coronavirus.

According to the coronavirus case counter maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, number of cases in U.S has now leapfrogged to 85,840. (Mar 27, 10.11 am IST)

The first case in the U.S.-a man in Washington state with travel history to Wuhan, China—was reported on Jan. 21. Within six weeks, the U.S. began to see a surge in new infections and the country’s first deaths.

China, where the novel coronavirus is said to have originated, was previously the country with most number of cases. The country is now reporting 81,872 cases.

New York is currently the epicentre of the pandemic in the U.S., with its 37,802 infections accounting for nearly half of all cases in the country. The New York City metro area accounts for 35% of all new cases in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is set to unveil a series of guidelines categorising counties across the nation as high-risk, medium-risk or low-risks, aiming to help state and local authorities decide whether to tighten or relax social-distancing measures designed to help slow infections.

Italy continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic with 80,589 confirmed cases. The number of Covid-19 cases in Spain have risen to 56,347. The country’s death toll surpassed China’s on Wednesday and now stands at 4,365. Only Italy has a higher toll, with 8,215 fatalities.