The United States has overtaken Italy as the country with the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 pandemic with the fatalities crossing 20,000.

According to Johns Hopkins University, US registered 20,597 deaths till yesterday, surpassing Italy's 19,468 fatalities.

More than 5.3 lakh Americans have tested positive for coronavirus, which is about the same for the next four countries put together, which are Spain, Italy, Germany and France. New York City which has emerged as the epicenter, registered as many as 8,627 deaths by Saturday.

President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency and all the 50 States have been notified with major disaster declaration.

More than 95 per cent of the country's 330 million population are under stay-at-home order.

Globally, the novel coronavirus has killed 108,862 people and infected over 1.7 million people, according to Johns Hopkins University.