The sharpest rise came in the Army with 316 new cases reported bringing the total up to 716, a jump of more than 40 percent on the day before. However, the service with the largest number of cases remained the Navy with 983, a rise of 32, the Defence Department said in an official fact sheet.
A total of 957 former Defence Department personnel, supporting civilian staff, contractors and family members are now reported to have recovered from the virus, an increase of 219 on the day before, the sheet said.
The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March. To date, over 2.1 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide, of which over 140,000 have succumbed to the deadly disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.