President Donald Trump said the US should continue reopening its economy, despite a recent increase in the death rate from the coronavirus.

Speaking at a press briefing Thursday, the president said that given the disproportionate danger of the virus to the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, people in high risk groups should be “sheltered” from the virus, while the ‘young and healthy’ are permitted to return to work or school.

“We want to get the world back to what it was, and I think we'll have that, including great job numbers, including so many things that are happening so positive.”

“The data shows that children are lower risk from the China virus, very substantially. When children do contact the virus, they often have only very mild symptoms or none at all, and medical complications are exceedingly rare.”

Those that do face complications often have underlying medical conditions. Ninety-nine percent of all China virus hospitalizations are adults. And 99.96 percent of all fatalities are adults. That means that children are a tiny percentage -- less than 1 percent, and even a small percentage of 1 percent.”

“Given these considerations, we believe many school districts can now reopen safely, provided they implement mitigation measures and health protocols to protect families, protect teachers, and to protect students. And we do have to protect the teachers and the families also; we have to remember that.”

“Our strategy to safely reopen schools mirrors our approach nationwide. As we race toward the completion of a vaccine and therapeutics, the responsible path is to shelter those at highest risk, while allowing those at lower risk -- much lower, in the case of young children -- to resume work and school and -- as long as everyone practices vigilant hygiene and social distancing. We want that.”

President Trump also announced that he has cancelled the main portion of the 2020 Republican National Convention, which was to have been held in Jacksonville, Florida next month. The president cited the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the area.

"The timing for this event is not right. It's just not right with what's happened recently -- the flare up in Florida -- to have a big convention. It's not the right time."

A scaled-down convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Republican delegates will gather to formally nominate Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.