The Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute has called for a national quarantine across the US amid coronavirus panic.

Ashish Jha said the American healthcare system is not equipped to deal with the pandemic.

“Our hospitals and emergency rooms are not ready. We have two choices. We can have a national quarantine now, for two weeks, get a grip on where things are and then reassess,” said Mr Jha told NBC’s Morning Joe.

“Or we can not, (we can) wait another week and when things look really terrible, be forced into it.”

He also urged people to follow Dr Anthony Fauci‘s advice to practice social distancing.

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“Nonessential stuff, people have to stay at home. No public gatherings. Certainly no bars and restaurants,” he said.

“It’s going to be really hard and economically very tough but the alternative is economically even more devastating.”

Mr Jha added that the situation is complicated and “we’re in between a rock and a hard place and we’ve got to make the right call.”

Mr Jha also spoke to Fox News’ Bill Hemmer Reports, where he said he would like America to overreact to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dr Tony Fauci is completely right: My biggest hope is that we overreact. My biggest fear is that we underreact. The cost of overreaction is serious economic consequences, but the cost of underreaction will be measured in human lives,” Mr Jha said.

The national security council tweeted on Sunday in an attempt to dispel rumours of a national lockdown.

“Text message rumours of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19,” it tweeted.

In the US 4,661 cases of the disease and 85 deaths have been recorded so far.