Donald Trump has said he now considers himself a 'war-time president' as he announced a slew of new measures designed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, reports our US Editor Ben Riley-Smith.

The US president used an hour-long press briefing to announce that he will end evictions and foreclosures for Americans until at least the end of April.

He will sign the Defense Production Act, effectively a war-time powers law, to speed up the production of masks, ventilators and other medical equipment.

Mr Trump said he was deploying two hospital ships - one called The Mercy to New York and another called The Comfort to California.

When asked about the Mexico border, Mr Trump also said that he was planning to reduce crossing to only non-essential travel, though there is no announcement yet.

"We're going to defeat the invisible enemy," Mr Trump said in the White House briefing, saying the unfolding crisis effectively made him a "war-time president".

Mike Pence, the US vice president, called for all elective procedures to be delayed to help free up capacity in health facilities.

Mr Pence also said that in addition to ventilators already in hospitals there were stockpiles of more than 10,000 others in America. The Defence Department said they could provide another 2,000.

That would help boost the current total being used, estimated to be around 160,000. However there remain concerns it is not enough given the US population is almost 330 million and ventilators are needed to treat the most severe cases of the virus.

During the briefing Mr Trump was also challenged again about repeatedly using the phrase "Chinese virus" in recent days to describe coronavirus.

Asked why he used it, Mr Trump said: "Because it comes from China. It's not racist at all."

Meanwhile one of America's top health officials expressed concern that data from Italy and France suggested young people may be more susceptible to the virus than initially thought.

Deborah Birx urged millennials to heed US government guidance that says people should not gather in groups of more than 10 more, warning that young patients were not immune.