U.S. Coronavirus Update as Death Toll Soars Past 500, Trump Admin to Invoke Defense Production Act to Fight Pandemic

Cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. climbed past 46,400, while the death toll has surpassed 500, with more cases in New York, Washington state and several other states, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Several more "stay at home" orders taking effect across the country, including the following most recently:

• New Mexico, effective March 24, 8 a.m., local time;
• Indiana, effective March 24, 11:59 p.m., local time;
• West Virginia, effective March 24, 8 p.m., local time;
• Connecticut, began March 23, 8 p.m., local time; and
• Washington state, began March 23 evening.

The virus, which was first reported in China's Wuhan city in the province of Hubei, has spread to over 395,000 people across at least 169 countries. Over 103,000 have recovered from infection, while the death count has surpassed 17,000.

China has more than 81,500 cases, with around 3,100 fatalities and over 70,000 have recovered. More cases are now reported outside the country than within China, which claims the outbreak has been largely contained.

Trump to activate Defense Production Act

President Donald Trump is set to use the Defense Production Act, which would deploy private companies to help manufacture emergency supplies such as medical equipment.

"We're actually going to use the DPA [Defense Production Act] for the first time today," the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Peter Gaynor, told CNN's New Day program.

"There's some test kits we need to get our hands on. We're going to insert some language into these mass contracts that we have for the 500 million masks."

He added that the DPA would be used to secure 60,000 test kits.

"We're going to use it, we're going to use it when we need it, and we're going to use it today," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said in a post on his official Twitter account: "The Defense Production Act is in full force, but haven't had to use it because no one has said NO! Millions of masks coming as back up to States."

The government has been facing pressure in recent days for the DPA to be activated, including from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo wrote in a post on his official Twitter account on Monday: "We need the federal government to use the Defense Production Act so that we can get the medical supplies we desperately need. We can't just wait for companies to come forward with offers and hope they will. This is a national emergency."

He also Tweeted on Sunday: "I'm calling on the Federal Government to nationalize the medical supply chain. The Federal Government should immediately use the Defense Production Act to order companies to make gowns, masks and gloves. Currently, states are competing against other states for supplies."

Infection "attack rate" five times higher in New York

Dr. Deborah Birx, a health expert on the COVID-19 task force led by Vice President Mike Pence, noted on Monday: "The New York metro area of New Jersey, New York City and parts of Long Island have an attack rate close to one in 1,000. This [rate] is five times [greater than] what the other areas [in the country] are seeing," she said at a White House press briefing.

Around 28 percent of the specimens from the area submitted for examination tested positive for the virus, while less than eight percent of the samples from other parts of the country tested positive, she confirmed.

"So to all of my friends and colleagues in New York, this is the group that absolutely needs to social distance and self-isolate. Clearly, the virus had been there for a number of weeks to have this level of penetrance into the general community."

New York has reported at least 25,665 confirmed cases, as of Tuesday, the office of Cuomo's office confirms. The state is home to more than half of the total cases in the country.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the spread of COVID-19 across the U.S.

U.S. death count surpasses 500

The death count in the country has reached at least 592, as of Tuesday. The majority of the fatalities have been reported in New York, Washington state and California, while New Hampshire reported its first death on Monday, bringing the state's total cases to 101, the state's department of health confirms.

Latest COVID-19 death toll in the U.S.

• New York - 188 (125 in New York City, 63 others)
• Washington state - 107 (87 in King County, 11 Snohomish, 9 others)
• California - 43 ( 8 Los Angeles, 13 Santa Clara, 22 others)
• Louisiana - 35
• New Jersey - 27
• Georgia - 26
• Florida - 18
• Michigan - 15
• Illinois - 12
• Conecticut - 10
• Massachusetts - 9
• Colorado - 7
• Missouri - 5
• Indiana - 4
• Nevada - 4
• Kentucky - 4
• Texas - 4
• Vermont - 4
• Maryland - 3
• Ohio - 4
• Wisconsin - 3
• Arizona - 3
• Pennsylvania - 2
• Tennessee - 2
• Virgina - 2
• Kansas - 2
• Washington, D.C. - 2
• Minnesota - 1
• Mississippi - 1
• New Hampshire - 1

Data on COVID-19 cases is from Johns Hopkins University unless otherwise stated.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the recovery curve compared to the infection curve of the virus.