Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio has cautioned that the number of COVID-19 cases in the city could increase substantially to about 10,000 very soon and called for "urgent intervention" by the federal government to help slow down the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic.
The United States has at least 8,736 cases of coronavirus and 149 deaths, according to state and local health authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York is by far the worst-hit state, with more than 2,900 cases and 21 deaths. The city added nearly 1,000 cases of individuals infected by the virus in a span of just one day.
"So, a hundred plus new cases yesterdaythat is what I'm seeing as a kind of a gallop now. This morning, the latest news, 923 cases, but we're going to top a thousand today undoubtedly. We're going to be at 10,000 not so long from now," de Blasio told NBC.
He said the exponential increase in the number of cases will put a strain on the city's hospitals, particularly the ICUs.
"This is something that needs urgent intervention by the federal government and I think we're all going to have to go deeper in changing our approach, which is why I think an honest conversation about shelter in place has to happen," he said, making a reference to a blanket quarantine being imposed on the city to control the spread of the virus.
The Mayor said he was considering issuing a "shelter in place order", a drastic and unprecedented measure that would impose a blanket quarantine on 8.6 million New Yorkers in order to control the rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases in the city.
However, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said such a measure was unlikely to be implemented.
"The emergency policies that have been issued are of statewide impact, and the Governor is making every effort to coordinate these policies with our surrounding states. Any blanket quarantine or shelter in place policy would require State action and as the Governor has said, there is no consideration of that for any locality at this time," Cuomo has said.
Cuomo signed a bill to guarantee paid leave for New Yorkers under mandatory or precautionary quarantine due to COVID-19.
Emphasising the need for social distancing to slow the spread of the virus, companies have asked employees to work from home, schools and colleges across the nation are closed.
de Blasio signed an Executive Order limiting restaurants, bars and cafes to food take-out and delivery.
Nightclubs, movie theatres, small theatre houses, and concert venues will all close with effect from March 17, a significant measure that will ensure social distancing.
New York City Subway tweeted that it had seen a decline of 3.7 million people in its ridership on March 17 as compared to the same day a year ago.
"We miss you, but for now, we'll say: thank you for not riding with us. You're keeping NYC safer," it said.
The coronavirus outbreak, that first originated in Wuhan in China, has killed 8,809 people and infected 218,631 across 157 countries and territories, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
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