Coronavirus: Graphic shows how US overtook other countries to reach 1 million Covid-19 cases

One-third of all confirmed cases around the world are in the US

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US has surpassed 1 million, accounting for more than a third of all cases in the world.

US deaths account for more than a quarter of the 219,000 Covid-19-related deaths around the globe, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. A graphic from The Independent shows how the US climbed to more than 1 million cases, outpacing the rates of other countries.

The US reached the grim milestone on Tuesday, less than four months after the outbreak was first detected in the US.

Within that time, nearly 59,000 people in the US have died from illness related to the disease, outpacing the total US fatalities over nearly two decades of conflict leading up to and during the Vietnam War.

More than 116,000 people have recovered from the disease.

The dramatic surge in infection follows a nationwide scramble to repair a significant shortfall in testing capacity. Fewer than 100 cases were identified in the US at the beginning of March. But over the last several weeks, the nation's daily death tolls have reached more than 1,000.

White House officials have promised to expand testing capacity as Donald Trump pressures states and local governments to begin reopening to reboot the lagging economy, which has seen millions of Americans filing for unemployment benefits and business closures across the US.

Officials have disputed the reported numbers coming from China, and the president has accused the World Health Organisation of enabling a cover-up that left the world unprepared for the public health crisis, though he has deflected blame while under fire for his own dismissal of the outbreak despite repeated warning from members of his administration.

Nearly 6 million people have been tested for the virus in the US as states report shortages and a lack of testing capacity as they prepare to meet criteria to reopen under federal guidelines.

Several states will begin experimenting with reopening businesses and other services this week, while some areas — including the entire San Francisco Bay Area and all of Louisiana — have extended their stay-at-home measures to combat community transmission of the virus.