NEW YORK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 500,000 on Friday night, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 500,399 with 18,693 deaths as of 10:00 p.m. (0200 GMT on Saturday), according to the CSSE.

The US has also become the first country in the world to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day.

Figures from Johns Hopkins University show 2,108 people died in the past 24 hours while there are now more than half a million confirmed infections.

The US could soon surpass Italy as the country with the most coronavirus deaths worldwide.

But experts on the White House Covid-19 task force say the outbreak is starting to level off across the US.

Dr Deborah Birx said there were good signs the outbreak was stabilising, but cautioned: "As encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak."

President Donald Trump also said he expects the US to see a lower death toll than the initial predictions of 100,000 fatalities.