President Donald Trump on Thursday said the reopening of the US economy will take place gradually, with states that saw little of the pandemic starting first.

"Our approach will outline three phases in restoring our economic life," Mr Trump told reporters at the daily White House briefing. "We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time, and some states, they will be able to open up sooner than others."

Mr Trump said state governors, not the White House, would be in charge of the process, climbing down from his comments a few days ago when he said the office of president has "total authority" to re-open states.

"If they need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that," he told reporters. "If they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do," he said.

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