President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. may be able to get the new coronavirus outbreak under control by July or August at the earliest.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room, also said his administration may look at lockdowns for "certain areas" or "hot spots" in the nation. But the president said he wasn't considering a full national lockdown. "At this moment, no, we're not," Trump said.

The latest daily briefing came as the number of infections and deaths from the COVID-19 virus continued to rise in the U.S., prompting drastic action at every level of government to try to mitigate its spread.

Asked when the U.S. might expect to turn a corner in its efforts to rein in the virus, Trump said that "If we do a really good job, we'll not only hold the death down to a level that is much lower than the other way, had we not done a good job, but people are talking about July, August, something like that."

Equities plunged as Trump spoke, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down nearly 13%.

The coronavirus task force was originally scheduled to brief reporters Monday morning, but the event was pushed back until after 3 p.m. ET. Trump spoke at roughly the same time in the Rose Garden on Friday, where he was flanked by business leaders who unveiled their own efforts to fight the coronavirus.