The administration is requesting $US1.25 billion in new funding and wants to transfer $US535 million more in funding from an Ebola preparedness account that's been a top priority of Democrats. It anticipates shifting money from other HHS accounts and other agencies to complete the $US2.5 billion response plan.

Senators returning to Washington after a weeklong recess will receive a classified briefing on Tuesday on the government's coronavirus response, a Senate aide said. A spokeswoman for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, a Republican, said the panel would "take their input into account as we continue to do our due diligence to determine what additional resources are necessary."

Democrats said the request is insufficient and said Trump's attempt to go after existing Ebola prevention funding is dead on arrival.

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"All of the warning lights are flashing bright red. We are staring down a potential pandemic and the administration has no plan," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, who blasted a shortage of kits to test for the virus and Trump's proposed budget cuts to health agencies like the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have a crisis of coronavirus and President Trump has no plan, no urgency, no understanding of the facts or how to coordinate a response."

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Trump was a vocal critic of his predecessor Barack Obama's response to the 2014 Ebola scare, which barely touched the US but was seen as a factor in that year's midterm elections, which restored control of the Senate to Republicans.

Trump took to Twitter on Monday to defend his record.

"The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock market starting to look very good to me!" he tweeted.

Among the needs is funding to reimburse the Department of Defence which is housing evacuees from China - who are required to undergo 14-day quarantines - at several military bases in California.

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Democrats controlling the House wrote to HHS Secretary Alex Azar earlier this month to request funds to help speed development of a coronavirus vaccine, expand laboratory capacity, and beef up screening efforts at US entry points.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, called the plan "woefully insufficient".

"Despite urgent warnings from Congress and the public health community, the Trump administration took weeks to request these emergency funds," Lowey said in a statement. "Their answer now is to raid money Congress has designated for other critical public health priorities."

Azar is slated to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, and the US response to the outbreak is sure to be a major topic.

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The quickly spreading virus has slammed the economy of China, where it originated, and caseloads are rapidly increasing in countries such as South Korea, Iran and Italy. Almost 80,000 people have contracted the disease, with more than 2500 deaths, mostly in China.

The United States, however, has had only 17 cases of the disease spread across seven states, not including 36 Americans who were infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

In San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a walking tour of Chinatown on Monday to let the public know the neighbourhood was safe and open for business.

Pelosi, a Democrat who represents the heavily Chinese American city, visited the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, whose owner Kevin Chan, says his business and others are down 70% since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

"Come to Chinatown," Pelosi said. "Precautions have been taken by our city, we know that there's concern about tourism, travelling all throughout the world, but we think it's very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come."

Asked about the Trump administration's looming request, Pelosi said she would want to know how the money would be used.

AP