The United States now has the highest number of known cases of coronavirus in the world with more than 82 000, according to health officials.

The US cases piled up Thursday, surpassing China and Italy. The per capita rate of cases varies because of the countries" vast differences in population.

As of Thursday evening, the U.S. had at least 82 100 cases while China was reporting 81 782.

There have been more than 510 000 cases reported worldwide. The countries’ numbers are changing constantly and both the totals and the rank order of countries could change at any time.