President Donald Trump has said the US will make a decision at the end of a 15-day period on 'which way we want to go' to fight coronavirus, implying that the country could re-open - just hours after New York City went into lockdown at 8pm on Sunday.

 'We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,' he said on Twitter.  

Trump appeared to send mixed messages as he wrote the tweet after taking aggressive steps to stem the spread of the deadly virus.

New York state went into lockdown on Sunday, with all non-essential businesses shuttered, leaving just grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential operations open.