A medical worker gestures at a COVID-19 testing station at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Monday, March 23, 2020, in New York. (Photo: AP)

NEW YORK, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 40,000 as of 1:30 p.m. US Eastern Time on Monday (1730 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 40,961 with 485 deaths, the CSSE said.

The state of New York has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, with 20,875 cases reported. New Jersey and Washington have reported 2,844 and 1,996 cases, respectively, according to the center.