WASHINGTON, March 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States now has more than 100,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University showed.
There have been 100,717 cases including 1,544 deaths as of 6 pm Eastern time (2200 GMT).
The biggest cluster by far is in New York, home to almost half the cases, overwhelming the hospital system.
The United States has around 15,000 more confirmed cases then the second country on the list, Italy, and 20,000 more than China, where the disease was first identified but has since peaked.
The US death rate based on confirmed cases is about 1.5 percent, compared to around 10.5 percent in Italy.
This death rate figure could fall, as greater testing reveals more people who are positive but asymptomatic.
It may also rise if more cities and states find themselves in a similar position to New York, which has seen more than 500 deaths and is experiencing a drastic shortage of hospital beds, personal protective equipment and ventilators.
Meanwhile, a senior US general said US military operations abroad have not been impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“There is no impact on the operations,” said General John Hyten, the vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“The currently assigned missions that we have across the globe are still being executed with the same rules of engagement and the same construct that we’ve had a month ago or two months ago.”
The US military will “continue to adjust as we get different requirements, but there’s been no impact on those missions due to the coronavirus,” he said.
Hyten said the number of COVID-19 cases among US forces overseas is “very small,” so “they have not impacted our ability to conduct operations.”
The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a two-month freeze on all planned troop movements around the world, including the deployment and the return home of personnel in theaters of war, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
As of Friday the Pentagon reported 652 cases of COVID-19 among its military and civilian employees, and among Pentagon contractors. One contractor and a military spouse have died from the virus.
There are some 1.3 million military personnel on active duty, as well as 450,000 National Guard volunteers and some 600,000 reservists.
