COVID-19 cases on US Navy ship rise to 550

The number of COVID-19 cases on USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, has risen to 550, the US Navy said on Saturday.

In an update, the US Navy said that 92 per cent of the crew members have been tested for COVID-19, with 550 positive and 3,673 negative results, and that a total of 3,696 sailors have moved ashore, Xinhua news agency reported.

The data came some two weeks after the ship's captain Brett Crozier sounded alarmed over the outbreak when only dozens of sailors on the ship had tested positive for the virus.

In doing so, Crozier was relieved of his command by then-acting Secretary of the US Navy Thomas Modly, who himself resigned later after his remarks lashing out at the captain backfired.

US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper has said that the reinstatement of Crozier is not off the table and that no decision will be made until an investigation is complete.

"We've taken nothing off the table. What I look to do is hear from the chain of command. My inclination is always to support the chain of command and to take their recommendation seriously," Esper told some American newspapers on Friday.

The US Navy has reported 945 cases and four deaths across the branch, according to Saturday's update.