New York, Apr 7 (IANS): The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States topped 10,000 as of 1.20 p.m. local time (1720 GMT), according to the data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 10,335 people have died of the disease among 347,003 confirmed cases in the country, the CSSE said on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The state of New York suffered the most deaths in the country, now standing at 4,758. Among other hard-hit states, New Jersey reported 917 fatalities, Michigan recorded 617 deaths, and California reported 350 deaths. Over 18,000 patients have recovered, according to the CSSE data.

At a Sunday briefing in the White House, US President Donald Trump said that Americans are bracing for probably the toughest week during which a lot of deaths will occur due to COVID-19.

"The US will reach a horrific point in terms of death," Trump said, while voicing his optimism that "it will be a point where things will start changing for the better."

Globally, over 180 nations and regions reported a total of 1,309,439 cases with 72,638 deaths, according to the CSSE data.