Donald Trump to replace Covid-19 taskforce with economy reopening group

US President Donald Trump told reporters that he will set up an economy reopening group to replace the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

"As far as the Task Force, [Vice President] Mike Pence and the Task Force have done a great job, but we are now looking at a little bit of a different form. That form is safe and opening. We will have a different group probably set up for that," Trump said on Tuesday.

The Task Force headed by Pence has focused its efforts on healthcare issues and has been effectively guiding the United States since the beginning of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

Trump later in the day told ABC News that it is possible there will be "some" deaths as a result of reopening.

"It's possible there will be some because you won't be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is," Trump said. "But at the same time, we're going to practice social distancing, we're going to be washing hands, we're going to be doing a lot of the things that we've learned to do over the last period of time."

Trump also said however that continuing the restrictions could also lead to deaths. The president in the interview said social distancing has led to suicides and drug overdoses.

"Take a look at what's going on," Trump said. "People are losing their jobs. We have to bring it back, and that's what we're doing.