Photo: Agencies

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 5.5 million on Wednesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. case count rose to 5,505,074, with the national death toll reaching 172,418 as of 1:27 p.m. local time (1727 GMT), according to the CSSE.

The hardest-hit U.S. state of California reported 640,722 cases, followed by Florida with 584,047 cases, Texas with 569,331 cases, and New York with 426,571 cases, the tally showed.

Other states with over 180,000 cases include Georgia, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey, according to the CSSE.

By far, the United States remains the worst-hit nation, in terms of both the caseload and death toll.