New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a one-mile (1.6km) coronavirus "containment zone" around a town north of New York City.
New Rochelle has seen "probably the largest cluster" of US cases, he said.
National Guard troops will be used to clean schools in the town and deliver food to any quarantined individuals.
The death toll in Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, rose to 631 as the authorities placed the whole country in lockdown.
Italy's death toll is the highest outside China, which recorded its lowest number of new infections, just 19, on Tuesday.
China, where the virus was first detected, has seen a total of 80,754 confirmed cases, with 3,136 deaths.
Why is New York state taking this action?
The state has 173 active cases, the most in the US.
Of these cases, 108 are in Westchester County, where New Rochelle is located. New York City, which is located around 25 miles (40km) south of New Rochelle, has 36 confirmed cases of the virus in its population of eight million people.
Mr Cuomo said there would be no travel restrictions in the town (population 77,000) but large meeting points in the area would be closed.
Schools, gathering places and businesses in the virus hot spot will be closed for two weeks.
There were 804 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, which is tracking the outbreak.
Twenty-eight people have died in the US as a result of the virus - 23 in Washington state, two in California, two in Florida and one in New Jersey.
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