US has the 'potential' to be next virus epicenter

The United States has become the first country to report more than 10,000 new cases of novel coronavirus infection for two days in a row, with its confirmed cases topping at least 55,000 as of Tuesday. That means the US ranks third worldwide in cases behind China and Italy, prompting increasing concern that it has potential to become the next epicenter of the pandemic.

Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said at a Tuesday news conference that 85 percent of new cases worldwide since Monday were from Europe and the US. Of those, 40 percent were from the US.

"We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US. So it does have that potential (to become the new epicenter)," Harris said.