The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States has the potential to exceed that in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday as the number of reported US cases surges.

The sources said, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters during a virtual press conference that 85 percent of the new cases reported to the global body overnight had come from Europe and the United States, now the two “main drivers of the outbreak.”

The latest WHO coronavirus daily situation report — published late Monday, before the overnight figures — showed that Europe reported 20,131 new cases in the preceding 24 hours, while the United States reported 16,354, more than doubling its total caseload.

Today is #WorldTBDay. As we stand together to confront the #COVID19 pandemic, it highlights just how vulnerable people with lung diseases & weakened immune systems can be. Millions of people around the 🌍 suffer & die from #tuberculosis, a preventable, treatable, curable disease. pic.twitter.com/uCzvPGJdIa

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— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 24, 2020

According to the details, Asked whether the United States could overtake Europe as the epicenter of COVID-19, Harris said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in the number of cases from the US, so it does have that potential.

“We cannot say that that is the case yet but it does have that potential.

“They have a very large outbreak and an outbreak increasing in intensity.”

The WHO’s Monday daily update showed European countries with 171,424 total infections and 8,743 deaths (up 1,318), while the United States reported a total of 31,573 infections and 402 fatalities (up 201).