Social distancing rules should be same for Ramzan, Easter: Trump

President Donald Trump has said he hopes US Muslims will be held to the same social distancing standards during Ramzan as Christians at Easter, when a number of faithful chafed against coronavirus-related restrictions on large gatherings.

The US president made the comments after being asked to defend a retweet of a conservative commentator who seemed to question whether Muslims would be treated with the same severity as Christians who broke social distancing rules.

"I would say that there could be a difference," Trump said during his daily coronavirus press conference. "And we'll have to see what will happen. Because I've seen a great disparity in this country." "They go after Christian churches but they don't tend to go after mosques," he said on Saturday.

Ramzan, which begins at sunset on Thursday, falls a week and a half after Easter, when some Christians bucked public health regulations to attend illicit services.

Asked whether he thought imams would refuse to follow social distancing orders, Trump responded: "No, I don't think that at all." "I am somebody that believes in faith. And it matters not what your faith is. But our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently."