Lubavitch hassid Zalman Goldstein, whose father Levy Goldstein in Brooklyn is in critical condition with the COVID-19 coronavirus, issued a tearful call to "wake up" and take isolation restrictions seriously.

Accompanying his video Goldstein wrote: "Listen to the end; the video is sad and might provoke. There are some already in critical condition in New York, who were complacent and the government was complacent, and didn't understand what catastrophe was coming to the world.

And we in Israel must stop it as much as possible. Don't leave the house!!! If there's no real reason, we must stop in time before it's too late, and it's already a little late.

"People think they'll go to synagogue with 10 people, not realizing that they're already infecting someone, because the virus is inside them and they don't know it, and it's enough that they accidentally infect one person at risk, and it'll be too late.

"It says 'Anyone who saves one Jewish soul...' I don't think prayer with a minyan is worth a person's very life.

"And may we soon merit good news."

New York Mayor Bill DeBasio says New York City and State will decide whether to order residents to shelter-in-place within 48 hours. “This is a reality that is being talked about,” he said.

There have been 814 coronavirus cases in New York so far: 248 in Queens; 277 in Manhattan; 157 in Brooklyn; 96 in the Bronx; and 36 in Staten Island, with seven dead citywide from the disease.