BETHESDA, Maryland — US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time Saturday, finally yielding to intense pressure to set a public health example as the coronavirus rampages across America.

Trump had on a dark mask featuring the presidential seal as he walked through the corridors of Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington to meet with wounded veterans.

Trump — at political rallies, media briefings and elsewhere — has repeatedly avoided wearing a mask, even after staffers at the White House tested positive for the virus and as more aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, have taken to wearing them.

In May Trump even made fun of Biden when the latter started wearing a mask in public, sharing a tweet that featured an unflattering photograph of the former vice president in a black face covering.

Trump has reportedly told aides that wearing a mask would make him look weak and he could not stomach the idea of letting the media photograph him in one.

Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the virus on Friday, forcing a delay in the departure of Air Force Two while a half-dozen other members of his staff were taken off the plane for further testing. That came only a day after word that one of the president’s own military valets had been infected.

Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence are now tested daily, and both tested negative after the latest infections were discovered. Staff members in proximity to them are also tested daily, as are guests.

Not just any old mask. They've been embroidered with the Presidential Seal.

Today's shocking daily rise meant that if Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India, according to analysis by Reuters news agency.

Florida isn't the only US state to see a rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, with infections rising in about 40 percent of states, according to Reuters - who analysed cases over the past two weeks and compared it with the prior two weeks.

Other states at the centre of the outbreak include Arizona, California and Texas - where the number of coronavirus hospitalisations are on the rise.

This week the US has broken global records, by registering about 60,000 new cases a day nationwide for the last four days in a row.

Daily White House news conferences ended soon after Mr Trump suggested, in April, during freewheeling remarks from the podium, that the virus might be treated by injecting bleach into people.

In his first White House coronavirus briefing for months on Tuesday, a more scripted president echoed what public health officials on his pandemic task force have been saying as he warned: "It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better."

He added: "We're asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask.

"Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they'll have an effect and we need everything we can get."

Mr Trump also asked all Americans to wear face coverings, saying "they'll have an effect" and show "patriotism".

The president is facing an uphill climb to re-election in November against Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, according to opinion polls.