EPA Copyright: EPA

President Trump says he had a conference call with sports commissioners across the US on Saturday, naming several people including those in charge of the MLB, NFL and NBA.

But the president denied reports that he wants stadiums to reopen in August.

"We need to open our country," he said. "I had an expression, the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. We've got to get our country open. I want fans back in the arenas whenever we're ready, as soon as we can."

The president said he was unable to put a date on when this might be achieved, only that he thought it would be "sooner rather than later".

"We’re not going to have to have separation for the rest of our time on this planet, but eventually people are going to be able to occupy those seats in arenas.

"I’m not committing to [packing the stadiums in August] but it would be great if we were. People are staying in their homes, they're doing what they know is the right thing to do. It's not very complicated."

He added that he believed it would be possible to go ahead with the Republican National Convention scheduled to begin on 24 August.