NEW YORK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 500,000 on Friday night, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
The fresh figure reached 500,399 with 18,693 deaths as of 10:00 p.m. (0200 GMT on Saturday), according to the CSSE.
The state of New York recorded 174,481 cases, the most in the country, with a death toll of 7,884; New Jersey reported 54,588 cases and 1,932 fatalities; Michigan, California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have each reported over 20,000 cases, according to the tally.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States will be "substantially below the 100,000" figure projected by models last week.
"It looks like we're heading to a number substantially below the 100,000, that would be the low mark," Trump told a White House daily briefing.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said she is seeing a leveling of the curve in the United States for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
She said that a lot of this is due to an improvement of the situation in New York and mitigation steps that have been taken in the New York metro area.
However, she warned that the United States has "not reached the peak" of COVID-19 infections.
