Danny DeVito has posted a video urging his fellow New Yorkers to stay indoors, suggesting that they may inadvertently kill him if they do not.

At the age of 75, the Twins actor is particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus disease and is living in the most affected hotspot anywhere in the world.

To date almost 19,000 New Yorkers have lost their lives to COVID-19 - more than the whole of the UK and accounting for almost half of all the coronavirus deaths in the US.

In the video posted to Twitter, DeVito said: "Hi everybody it's Danny DeVito and I'm asking you from the bottom of my heart, all over the state of New York, stay home.

"I mean everybody. We got this virus, this pandemic. Young people can get it and they can transmit it to old people and then the next thing you know - I'm out of there.

"So Governmor Cuomo asked me to ask you, please, do us as a favour, all of us, and stay home, not spread this virus around. Thank you. Watch a little TV why don't ya?"

DeVito was last seen in Jumanji: The Next Level, released last year.