Medical workers transport a patient from an ambulance to George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C., the United States, May 13, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Americans suffer higher risk of dying from the coronavirus than people from any other country, a health expert has said.

"America has one of the worst numbers on planet Earth. You are more likely as an American to die from COVID-19 than you are in almost any other country," Ron Klain, former White House Ebola response coordinator under President Barack Obama, told CNN on Tuesday.

U.S. COVID-19 deaths have surpassed the 160,000 mark to reach 160,090 as of 21:48 p.m. local time on Thursday (0148 GMT Friday), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has risen to 4,881,974, according to the CSSE.

By far, the United States remains the worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of the number of cases and its death toll.