WASHINGTON, July 22. /TASS/. The novel coronavirus situation in the United States, which is the hardest-hit country of the current pandemic, might get even worse, US President Donald Trump told reporters in the White House.

"Some areas of our country are doing very well, others are doing less well," the US president said. "It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. Something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is. It’s what we have. You look all over the world, it’s all over the world."

According to the US president, the biggest increase in new cases is registered mostly in the country’s southern regions. However, the infection might spread beyond the country’s south, he added.

In his words, the US executive branch is working jointly with the US Congress on preparing the next "economic relief package" aimed at mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic. "We are working very hard on it, we are making a lot of progress. I also know that both sides want to get it done," he said.

Moreover, two potential vaccines against the disease are entering the final stage of clinical trials later this month, and four more will do so in the following weeks, Trump said.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 14,874,200 people have been infected worldwide and more than 613,600 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 8,929,200 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe. The Johns Hopkins University, which calculates its own statistics based on reports from US authorities, the WHO and other official sources, estimates the overall number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States at about $3.9 million, with over 141,000 deaths.