New Jersey’s death toll from the coronavirus reached yet another grim milestone Wednesday, surpassing the number of Garden State residents killed in the Vietnam War.

The state now has at least 1,504 deaths from the virus, Gov. Phil Murphy announced at his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton.

That’s compared to the 1,487 New Jersey residents lost as a result of the Vietnam War, and is also double the number of residents lost during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks (704).

Still, it is far from the 12,565 New Jerseyans who died in World War II.

“We’re not at any plateau,” Murphy said. “We need to be absolutely vigilant.”

The governor said many of the deaths announced Wednesday are likely people who were infected weeks ago, just as the state started to implement strict social distancing rules.

The Garden State, which has 9 million residents, has more cases than any U.S. state other than New York. Federal officials have identified New Jersey as a coronavirus “hotspot” in the U.S.

State officials have not yet reported how many people have recovered from the illness.

Murphy said Monday that New Jersey could see a peak in cases between April 19 and May 11, while the peak number of hospitalizations could come between April 10 and April 28. Officials said under a best-case scenario, the state’s total number of cases would peak at 86,000.

But that is only if New Jersey residents continue practicing social distancing. Murphy has put the state under near-lockdown to help, ordering residents to stay at home, banning social gatherings, closing schools, and mandating that non-essential retail businesses remain closed until further notice.

NJ Advance Media research editor Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

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