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The United States was grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world on Monday, as Florida shattered the national record for a state's largest single-day increase in new confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, two World Health Organization experts went to China for a mission to trace the origin of the pandemic. The virus was first detected in central China's city of Wuhan late last year. Beijing had been reluctant to allow a probe but relented after dozens of countries called on the WHO to conduct a thorough investigation.

Deaths from the virus have been rising in the US, especially in the South and West, though they are still well below the numbers reached in April, according to a recent Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

"I really do think we could control this, and it's the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we're in a crisis, and we're definitely not doing it," said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr Cindy Prins.

Admiral Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, called mask-wearing in public, which has been met with resistance in some US states, "absolutely essential".

Giroir, the assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Department, told ABC's This Week on Sunday that "if we don't have that, we will not get control of the virus".

Trump has harshly criticised the WHO over its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused it of bowing to Chinese influence. The Trump administration formally notified the UN last week of its withdrawal from the WHO, although the pullout will not take effect until July 6, 2021.

"We have a basic consensus with the WHO that virus tracing is a scientific issue, and that requires international scientific research and cooperation of scientists across the world," ministry spokesperson Hua said at a daily briefing. "WHO also believes that the virus tracing is an issue in progress, which may involve multiple countries and regions, and WHO will also conduct similar inspections in other countries and regions as needed."

The WHO has confirmed the visit by an epidemiologist and an animal diseases specialist but has not given out information on their agendas while in China. The virus causing the deadly illness COVID-19 is believed to have originated in bats and then jumped to humans via an intermediary species, possibly the anteater-like pangolin that is prized in China for its scales used in Chinese medicine as well as its meat.

In Japan, more than 30 marines tested positive at the Futenma US air station on Okinawa, where infections among American service members have rapidly risen to more than 90 since last week. Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan.