WASHINGTON — As the death toll from coronavirus is nearing 10,000 in the United States, President Donald Trump has expressed hope new cases were "leveling off" in US hotspots, saying he saw "light at the end of the tunnel".

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 on Sunday.

Around the world, almost 70,000 lives have been lost to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus.

While the US, Japan and Britain are among the many nations facing still-growing outbreaks, positive news continues to emerge from China and South Korea, and even battered communities in Italy and Spain appear to be turning a corner.

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

He said more medical personnel and supplies, including masks and ventilators, would be sent to the states that are most in need of assistance.

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".

"We're hopeful over the next week that we'll see a stabilization of cases in these metropolitan areas where the outbreak began several weeks ago," Dr. Birx said at the same news conference. — Agencies