The U.S. recorded a new daily high of 1,480 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total number to over 7,400, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 276,995 COVID-19 cases have been reported as of Friday after an increase of over 32,000 infections since the previous day, according to Johns Hopkins University's data. 9,772 people have recovered.

The state of New York, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, has reported over 100,000 cases with over 3,200 deaths, according to the center.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a press briefing that the government is now recommending Americans to wear cloth face coverings on a voluntary basis as many people have proven to be asymptomatically infected. But he added that he would not be wearing one.

(Cover: AP)