Covid-19 "will end up as a Top 10 leading cause of death" in 2020, CDC statisticians tell CNN

(CNN) Coronavirus is set to become a leading cause of death in the U.S.

Even though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot start ranking leading causes of deaths until the end of the year -- in order to get a full year's worth of data -- statisticians at the agency told CNN they expect Covid-19 will end up among the Top 10 leading causes of death in the nation.

"We know that based on the # of COVID-19 deaths so far in 2020, it will end up as a Top 10 leading cause of death but won't know exactly how high it will rank until next year," CDC mortality statisticians said via email Thursday.

"Heart Disease and Cancer, the two leading causes of death in the U.S., account for more than half of all deaths in the U.S. each year and that isn't expected to change."

Final data are based on death certificates for the calendar year.

In 2018, the latest year for which final data is available, the top 10 leading causes of death among all ages in the United States were:

1. Heart disease (655,381)
2. Cancer (599,274)
3. Unintentional injury (167,127)
4. Chronic lower respiratory disease (159,486)
5. Stroke (147,810)
6. Alzheimer's disease (122,019)
7. Diabetes (84,946)
8. Flu and pneumonia (59,120)
9. Nephritis (51,386)
10. Suicide (48,344)

As of Thursday night, slightly more than 144,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the United States so far this year.