People wearing face masks stand in a temporary field hospital for COVID-19 patients under construction at the USTA Billie Jean King national tennis center in the Borough of Queens on Wednesday in New York. Photo: AFP

The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States topped 20,000 Saturday afternoon, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 20,071 people have died of the disease among 519,453 confirmed cases in the country as of 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), the CSSE said.

New York state has recorded the most deaths in the country, 8,627, which is followed by New Jersey and Michigan with 2,183 and 1,276, respectively. A total of 29,507 patients in the country have recovered, according to the CSSE.