THE US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy has dropped anchor at the port of Los Angeles to support coronavirus response efforts.

Docked at the World Cruise Terminal, the Mercy will serve non-Covid-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals and will provide a full spectrum of medical care for adults, reported American Shipper.

"This will allow local health professionals to focus on treating Covid-19 patients and for shore-based hospitals to use their intensive care units and ventilators for those patients," the US Navy spokesman said.

Mercy's primary mission is to provide an afloat, mobile, acute medical facility to the US military. Its secondary mission is to provide full hospital services to support US disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide.

The Mercy deployed from San Diego to provide relief to Los Angeles-area hospitals overburdened by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to President Donald Trump asking that the Mercy be sent to his state, Governor Gavin Newsom said California's health care system will be significantly impacted by the rapid increase in confirmed coronavirus cases.

"We project that roughly 56 per cent of our population - 25.5 million people - will be infected with the virus over an eight-week period," Mr Newsom said.

New York City has also received aid from a Navy hospital ship. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the USNS Comfort, which was refitted at its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, is stationed in the Big Apple.

Both ships are equipped with 12 operating rooms, 1,000 hospital beds, digital radiological services, a medical lab, pharmacy and oxygen-producing plants. Each ship has a deck capable of landing large military helicopters and side ports to take on patients at sea. When fully operational, the hospital ships have a crew of 71 civilians and up to 1,200 Navy medical and communications personnel.