Donald Trump has ruled out a national mandate being put in place to ensure Americans wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This comes just seven days after the President was seen wearing a mask in public for the first time.

But despite his own personal U-turn on face covering, he maintains he will not force Americans to do the same.

When quizzed in an interview with Fox News , he said: "No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don't believe in that."

The full interview is to be aired on Sunday.

During the early stages of the pandemic back in April, Trump was unequivocal in his stance against wearing a mask.

He told reporters: "The CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure.

"This is voluntary. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it."

However, his wife Melania has called on people to wear masks throughout the pandemic, tweeting three months ago: "As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously."

A number of US states such as California and Florida have recently reimposed restrictions due to infection rates rising once more.

According to Reuters, 41 states saw a rise in infection rates on Friday as the US continues to see around 60,000 positive cases each day.

More than 3.7 million people have now tested positive for the virus in the US.

And the country’s death toll, which is by far the worst of any country across the globe, stands at 142,065 as of Saturday morning.