Patients wear personal protective equipment while maintaining social distancing as they wait in line for a COVID-19 test at Elmhurst Hospital Center, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in New York. (Photo: AP)

NEW YORK, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 60,000 as of 3:30 p.m. US Eastern Time on Wednesday (1930 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 62,068 with 869 deaths, the CSSE said.

The state of New York has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, with 30,811 cases reported. New Jersey and California have reported 4,402 and 2,660 cases, respectively, according to the center.