New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city is on the "frontline" of the coronavirus outbreak as the mayor decides whether to order the city's 8.6m residents to stay indoors to reduce the spread of the virus.

There are at least 4,000 confirmed cases of the virus New York, comprising more than 40 per cent of the nationwide total. Twenty-seven people in the state have died.

"I think people know what time it is", the mayor told MSNBC on Friday. "When this order is given, people will get it and people will honour it."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered all nonessential workers in the state — with a population of 19m people — to stay home.

The mayor said that his New York Police Department won't enforce "Draconian" measures to force people inside, and will instead issue warnings and reminders to keep people off the streets unless they're going to a grocery store, pharmacy or for other essentials.

"We're trying to save lives and protect people", he said. "There's no reason on earth that any non-essential business should be open at this moment."

His warnings came as the city reported the coronavirus-related death of a 61-year-old NBC News employee.

The mayor said that despite a mixed federal response to the pandemic, people have "really clear information about how bad this crisis is" and are "going to abide" by a similar order, pointing to the success of stay-at-home measures across the San Francisco Bay Area that were ordered on Monday.

There, six counties — including all of San Francisco — have ordered residents not leave their homes

On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom invoked a shelter-in-place order for the entire state.

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Mayor de Blasio blasted Donald Trump's administration for its failure to act quickly to begin its response, which is now "weeks if not months behind the crisis" as New York hospitals brace for "battlefield conditions" and potentially hundreds of preventable deaths.

He demanded the president invoke the Defence Production Act to order the emergency production of much-needed medical supplies and equipment and to mobilise the US military to aid in the response.

The mayor said that by the beginning of April, the city could "run out of basic medical supplies because of the intense strain put on our hospitals in this crisis" unless people are ordered to stay indoors and avoid spreading the virus.