New York gets hospital ship, possible quarantine

US President Donald Trump floated the idea of a quarantine as early as Saturday affecting residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for a short time to stop the spread of coronavirus from reaching states with fewer infections.

Speaking in Norfolk, Virginia, as a US Navy medical ship left New York to support the pandemic response there, Trump said such a lockdown would be announced "one way or the other fairly soon".

The federal government is empowered under the law to take measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases between states, but it's not clear that means Trump can order state residents to stay put.