NEW YORK, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 50,000 as of 3 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesday (1900 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 50,206 with 606 deaths, the CSSE said.

The state of New York has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, with 25,665 cases reported. New Jersey and California have reported 2,844 and 2,267 cases, respectively, according to the center.