A nurse holds a coronavirus test kit at a drive-through test station in Royal Oak, Michigan, on Monday, March 16. Paul Sancya/AP

At least 254,000 Americans have so far been tested and received results for coronavirus and more than 30,000 have tested positive, Vice President Mike Pence said.

Pence noted that those numbers do not include local hospitals or private labs that have conducted tests.

The Vice President said that commercial labs should be caught up in the backlog of testing by the middle of the week. Commercial labs should prioritize inpatient testing, and new guidance will be sent on that tomorrow, Pence said.

This is the most explicit figure given by the administration about the actual numbers of persons tested versus the number of tests conducted. Each person would have at least a couple of tests.