The World Health Organization has said that the United States could become the new global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.

In Geneva, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters there had been a “very large acceleration” in infections in the United States.

Asked whether the United States could become the new epicentre, Harris said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US. So it does have that potential.”

Some US state and local officials have decried a lack of coordinated federal action, saying that having localities act on their own has put them in competition for supplies.