Oprah Winfrey to provide $12 million in coronavirus grants to favourite cities

Oprah Winfrey has pledged to provide $12 million (£9 million) in coronavirus relief to U.S. cities and towns she has called home.

The media mogul's charitable foundation will donate money to organisations working to aid those in underserved communities in Chicago, Baltimore, Nashville, Milwaukee, and Kosciusko, Mississippi, where she was born.

"The reason I'm talking about it is because there is going to be a need for people of means to step up," Winfrey told The Associated Press. "I mean, this thing is not going away.

"Even when the virus is gone, the devastation left by people not being able to work for months who were holding on paycheque to paycheque, who have used up their savings... People are going to be in need. So my thing is, look in your own neighbourhood, in your own backyard, to see how you can serve and where your service is most essential. That is the real essential work, I think, for people of means."

Meanwhile, Winfrey has been housebound in California since 11 March, due to the coronavirus lockdown, and has cancelled any plans she had for the rest of the year.

She announced the launch of her COVID-19 Relief Fund last month, with her initially giving $1 million (£820,000) to America's Food Fund.