NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 5.4 million on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. case count rose to 5,400,180, with the national death toll reaching 169,955 as of 6:27 p.m. local time (2227 GMT), according to the CSSE.

The hardest-hit U.S. state of California reported 622,427 cases, followed by Florida with 573,416 cases, Texas with 554,826 cases, and New York with 425,508 cases, the tally showed.

Other states with over 180,000 cases include Georgia, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey, according to the CSSE.

By far, the United States remains the worst-hit nation, in terms of both the caseload and death toll.