The United States' status as the hardest-hit country across the globe by COVID-19 touched a new milestone, with over 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases,

According to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the USA has so far confirmed 5,017,150 cases from the deadly virus and recorded 162,635 deaths. 

The failure of the most powerful nation to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe, reports AP. 

In the global context, a total of 19,696,961 million coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed with some 727,000 related deaths. 

The US is followed by Brazil with more than three million confirmed infections and some 100,000 fatalities. 

India has the world's third-highest confirmed caseload as the country confirmed over 2.15 million cases.