NEW YORK, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 80 million on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

       U.S. COVID-19 case count rose to 80,000,546, with a total of 978,102 deaths, as of 12:20 p.m. local time (1620 GMT), showed the data.

       California topped the state-level caseload list, with more than 9 million cases. Texas confirmed the second most cases of about 6.7 million, followed by Florida with more than 5.8 million cases and New York with more than 4.9 million cases.

       The United States remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, accounting for nearly 17 percent of the global caseload and nearly 16 percent of the global deaths.

       U.S. COVID-19 caseload reached 50 million on Dec. 13, 2021, crossed 60 million on Jan. 9, 2022, and exceeded 70 million on Jan. 21.