Americans have been warned that they are heading into what could be their “toughest” few weeks, with “a lot of death” expected.
The words of President Donald Trump came as the number of COVID-19 cases in the US stood at more than 300,000, with the number dead at 8,100, more than 3,500 of those in the state of New York.
Also, more than 400 people have died in Louisiana and 500 in Michigan.
Mr Trump had said he wanted to get the US economy running as normal by Easter – 12 April – but, with the number of virus cases growing exponentially, he did not repeat this during his news conference on Saturday.
Instead, he said: “There will be a lot of death, unfortunately. There will be death.”
But he also said he wanted the virus “vanquished” as quickly as possible, because “we have to get back to work”.
Mr Trump said he wanted restrictions imposed in many states to be eased “sooner rather than later” and that he had been speaking with professional sports leagues about resuming competitions as quickly as possible.
“This country was not designed to be closed,” he said. “The cure cannot be worse than the problem.”
But Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s infection disease expert, said social distancing rules were working.
He said: “As sobering and as difficult as this is, what we are doing is making a difference.”
Thousands of military personnel will be deployed to various states to help the fight against the pandemic.
Some 1,000 of these, including military doctors and nurses, will go to New York, the worst-hit state.
