U.S. national flags representing the 200,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States are placed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Sept. 22, 2020. U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

NEW YORK, Sept. 22  -- U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national caseload topping 6.8 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 200,005 as of 11:23 a.m. local time (1523 GMT), according to the CSSE.

New York state reported 33,092 fatalities, at the top of the U.S. state-level death toll list. New Jersey recorded the second most deaths of 16,069. The states of Texas, California and Florida all confirmed more than 13,000 deaths, the tally showed.

States with more than 7,000 fatalities also include Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

The United States remains the nation hit the worst by the pandemic, with the world's highest caseload and death toll, accounting for more than one fifth of the global deaths.

The United States reached the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths on May 27. The number doubled in nearly four months.

Furthermore, an updated model forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows that more than 370,000 Americans may have died of COVID-19 based on current projection scenario by Jan. 1, 2021.

There has been an upward trend in new cases in the Southwest and the Midwest over the past week, as U.S. students returned for the fall semester in the midst of flu season.

According to media reports, U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday that the country is entering into a risk period for rising coronavirus infections following the start of fall.