Donald Trump has made clear he wants to loosen his nationwide coronavirus guidelines restricting the behaviour of United States citizens in an attempt to protect the economy.

During a press briefing at the White House that lasted around two hours, the US President repeatedly came back to the point that the limits placed on people’s movements were having a severe financial impact.

Despite soaring case numbers, Mr Trump warned that there could be "bigger problems" and even deaths from suicide if the economy slumped into recession and there were mass job losses. The stock market has continued to plunge in recent days and dire warnings have been made of unemployment in the US hitting 30 per cent, levels not seen since the Great Depression

Mr Trump would not commit to scrapping his current guidelines when the 15-day initial period comes to an end early next week but suggested he wanted to open the US economy back up in weeks rather than months.

"Our country was not built to be shut down," Mr Trump said at one point. He added later: "At a certain point we have to get open and we have to get moving."