President Donald Trump has expressed hope coronavirus cases were "leveling off" in US hotspots, saying he saw "light at the end of the tunnel," BBC News reported.

On Sunday, New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak, reported a drop in the number of new infections and deaths.

Trump described the dip as a "good sign," but warned of more deaths as the pandemic neared its "peak" in the US.

"In the days ahead, America will endure the peak of this pandemic," Trump said at his daily coronavirus briefing.

And Deborah Birx, a member of the president's coronavirus task force, said the situation in Italy and Spain, where infections and deaths have fallen in recent days, was "giving us hope on what our future could be."