Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma on Sunday announced that the Trump administration would begin requiring nursing homes to report confirmed coronavirus cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Speaking at a White House briefing, Verma said the new guidelines would also mandate that nursing homes communicate with patients and their families when one of their residents tests positive for COVID-19.

"It’s important that patients and their families have the information that they need and they need to understand what’s going on in the nursing home," Verma said, adding that the initiative would support efforts to effectively and safely reopen portions of the economy.

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The novel coronavirus has spread to thousands of nursing homes and long-term care facilities since it first reached the U.S., becoming a hot spot for the virus's outbreak in certain regions. More than 36,500 residents and staff members have contracted the virus and more than 7,000 have died from it, according to The New York Times.

The CDC did not require nursing homes to report data to the agency until Sunday. A CMS directive noted that nursing homes could now face enforcement action for failing to report virus cases.

"This is very important," Verma said. "As we reopen the U.S., our surveillance effort around COVID-19 will also begin in nursing homes, and so by having this reporting system this will support CDC’s efforts to have surveillance around the country."

The U.S. has about 15,600 nursing homes with 1.3 million residents, according to the CDC. The facilities can be especially dangerous considering many of the people staying in them have underlying health problems and are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The Trump administration said earlier this month that nursing homes had become an "accelerator for the virus."