Fears over the rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases in the US has led to questions over whether America will be forced to go into lockdown like parts of Italy and China, the countries which have been so far the worst-hit by the epidemic.

There are currently 804 cases of the virus in the US and 28 people have died from it.

In Italy, the numbers are far more alarming. As of Tuesday morning, 463 have died and there are 9,172 of it. Italy confirmed its first case of the virus 11 days before the US did.

On Monday night, computer scientist Mark Handley, Professor of Networked Systems and part-time Roboticist at UCL in London, tweeted a graph showing how growth figures in other infected countries compare to Italy's.

'Everyone else will be Italy in 9-14 days time,' Handley tweeted along with the data.

Dr. John Crane, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, agreed.

He told DailyMail.com in an interview that the world had never seen anything like the outbreak and that the US seemed to be watching how Italy responded before making any drastic decisions of its own.

'It looks like they’re on the exact same trajectory. Italy had an 11.5 day head start,' he said, referring to the data.

Scroll down for video

Mark Handley tweeted this graph charting the growth of cases in the US (pink) compared to that of Italy, purple

Handley said 'everyone else will be Italy'in 9-14 days time if the growth rates keep up

'When you have straight line on a long scale that signifies exponential growth.

'It’s not unusual at the beginning for an epidemic like this…when no human being on earth has previous exposure to it and no one has immunity to it.

'This doesn't change the fatality rate just the growth rate- we've learned this virus is pretty contagious.

It looks like they're on the exact same trajectory but Italy had an 11.5 day head-start John Crane, MD, PhD, infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo John Crane, MD, PhD, infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo

'This graph doesn’t say anything about the case fatality rate that might be around two percent but that’s still ten times higher than influenza and we have things we can do bout influenza, we don’t have a vaccine for this.'

The situation in Italy is so bad, some doctors have reported becoming 'overwhelmed' and crying because they cannot stop people from dying and are being forced to choose 'who to save'.

Dr. Crane said it was impossible to know if or when the US would reach a similar situation or how long a potential lock-down would last.

'We're waiting to see what happens in Italy and other countries. We're waiting to see - they were under extreme, extreme conditions [in China] where people were not allowed to come out of their house.

WHAT ARE THE TERMS OF ITALY'S LOCKDOWN Schools and universities are closed until April 3

All sporting events postponed indefinitely

Museums, theaters, cinemas, night clubs, cafes and restaurants are closed

Religious ceremonies including funerals and weddings are postponed

Airports remain open but people traveling have to fill out a document explaining why and face a fine or jail if they're caught lying

Stores remain open but only if they can ensure people stay 3ft apart

Public transport remains open but only for people with a valid work or family reason that cannot be postponed will be allowed to travel Advertisement

'We have no experience of that. Most of the country is much less densely populated so we would not have to implement it everywhere in the rural places in our country, rather tell them to just to maintain social distancing, not to go to bars and night clubs etc.

'We're trying to learn from everyone else who’s just a little bit ahead of us.

'If Italy’s pace of infection, strict isolation policy… we'd predict that it would level off but we just don’t know how long that will take.

'We’re learning as we go,' he said.

President Trump adamantly stated on Monday during the day that nothing in the country was shutting down or failing due to the virus, despite financial chaos that brought Wall Street its worst day since 2008, a mass of school closures and growing number of diagnoses across the country.

On Monday night, he conceded that the stock exchange chaos had 'blindsided' him but still urged people not to panic.

Trump later announced an economic bailout plan which would help alleviate the immediate damage of the crisis.

It was well received by Wall Street: the Dow rebounded by 830 points on Tuesday morning after a disastrous day on Monday which saw the worst single-day point drop ever.

But on Tuesday, he demanded another interest rate cut and said called the Federal Reserve 'pathetic' despite starting talks on emergency tax cuts to answer the coronavirus crisis.

Mark Handley, the computer scientist who made the prediction, works in London

The SEC became the first federal agency to tell people to work from home on Tuesday.

Trump's non-alarmist tone was echoed on Tuesday morning by Surgeon General Jerome Adams who, despite warning that 100million Americans may become infected and saying the scenario will 'get worse before it gets better', told Americans not to panic.

Adams was asked whether the US should prepare for an outbreak as large as 100million people during an appearance on Good Morning America.

He said: 'Americans should absolutely be prepared but that doesn't mean they should be afraid.

'We’ve been here before- SARS, MRSA – we know how to handle this.

'There are things we can do to prepare and not panic.'

He went on: 'Initially we had a containment poster, that’s outward facing… that works when you know when they’re coming from.

'Originally, over 95 percent of cases were coming from China. Now, most are coming from Europe, Iran, South Korea… we’re looking at mitigation.

'Mitigation means within your community, how do you lower the impact of the virus and prevent it from spreading.

There are now 804 cases of the virus in the US and there have been 28 deaths

A quieter than usual Grand Central station on Monday night after Mayor Bill de Blasio warned New Yorkers to avoid the subway

There were only a handful of people at the ordinarily busy St Peter's Square at the Vatican on Tuesday

The empty Galleria-Vittoria Emanuele II in Milan, one of the world's virus hotspots

A woman at JFK exits one of the terminals wearing a face mask on Monday

There was no one at L.A.X. on Tuesday morning as panic over the virus spread

'OVERWHELMED' DOCTORS IN ITALY BEING FORCED TO CHOOSE WHO TO SAVE A medic in northern Italy told a friend in the UK that hospitals were running at '200 per cent capacity' with operating theaters hurriedly converted into intensive care units. The medic's comments were published in a Twitter thread by UK-based friend Jason van Schoor, an anesthetist and clinical fellow at University College London. The medic's comments were published in a Twitter thread by UK-based friend Jason van Schoor, an anesthetist and clinical fellow at University College London. Advertisement

‘School closures, pulling down large social gatherings, those are all steps that folks should be thinking about in case they have an outbreak in their community.

'Not every community has a cluster right now but people should know this is likely going to get worse before it gets better.'

The entire country of Italy is now in lock-down, with the Prime Minister canceling mass gatherings and sporting events until the virus clears.

He called it the country's 'darkest hour'.

European airlines are canceling all flights to the country. Some US airlines are now following suit but there are still concerns over the level of screening passengers are getting when they arrive back in the US from Italy.

Some say they are not being checked at all or are being asked few questions.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday morning that the city would not be shutting down due to 'undue fear' but that he could not rule out a lockdown in the future.

'We cannot shut down because of undue fear.

'I would advise against these mass closures when we’re keeping this situation relatively contained.

'Ask me in a week, ask me in a month - it might change,' he added during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Tuesday things would 'get worse before they get better'

“There are things we can do and not panic,” Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams tells @GStephanopoulos.

Here are the steps you can take:

1. Know your risk

2. Know your circumstances

3. Know the steps that you can take to prepare⁰https://t.co/SxH3OmMyMD pic.twitter.com/RBl0fXPde7 — Good Morning America (@GMA) March 10, 2020

The Dow started to bounce back on Tuesday after a disastrous day of trading on Monday

How China halted coronavirus using a 'social nuclear weapon' but does the West have the will? Nicholas A. Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social & Natural Science at Yale University, took to Twitter yesterday to explain how China has managed to rapidly de-escalate the threat of COVID-19 within its borders. Advertisement

Trump and border officials have insisted that people traveling back to the US from Italy are being screened for the virus, despite contradictory accounts from travelers.

The only people who are physically being banned from entering the US as a result of the virus are foreign nationals arriving to the US on flights from China or Iran.

US citizens or people with valid visas who have been in China or Iran in the last 14 days are being redirected for screening, then they will have restrictions on their movements depending on their conditions.

AIRLINES THAT HAVE MODIFIED SERVICE TO LOCKED DOWN ITALY Air Canada will allow travelers to rebook flights to parts of Italy at no charge Alitalia said on Sunday it was suspending national and international flights to and from Milan’s Malpensa airport from March 9 United Airlines said it would reduce U.S. and Canadian flights by 10% and international flights by 20% in April, with similar cuts planned in May. It added South Korea to its travel waiver list but is not cancelling flights JetBlue said it would cut capacity by about 5% in the near term Norwegian Air Shuttle, which has canceled 22 long-haul flights between Europe and the United States from March 28 to May 5, said on March 6 it was cancelling flights from Oslo to Milan Advertisement

Others, from South Korea and Italy, may be asked to stay home for 14 days after arriving back in the US 'depending on their travel history'.

China is finally seeing a slowdown in the number of new daily cases.

But experts have pointed to the drastic measures the country has had to take to get to that point.

In a blog post on Thread Reader, Greek sociologist Nicholas A. Christakis laid out how far China had gone to stop the spread, and what other countries would need to do to stop it for themselves.

'The Chinese government has essentially used a social nuclear weapon in its efforts. Let’s talk about this, to understand what US is facing,' he wrote.

China implemented movement restrictions which limited how people could leave their homes and how frequently they could leave their homes on communities which, collectively, account for 930milion people, he wrote.

The restrictions included banning people from going out to buy food and arranging grocery deliveries for them instead.

Anyone who did go out had to have a permit to show why they were allowed to.

Christakis also shared a photograph of an elevator in China which had been separated into quadrants. No more than four people were allowed in it at one time.

The website the Surgeon General urged people to visit for more information can be found here.