The United States needs to ramp up testing for the coronavirus as the White House considers when and how to lift stay-at-home restrictions and lockdowns triggered by the pandemic, Reuters quoted US health experts as saying on Sunday.

More than 2 million tests have been done in the country so far, but the tests are not available to many who need them, said Dr Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

“We need to do more, no question about that,” Hahn said on ABC's “This Week.” The lack of adequate testing has hampered the U.S. response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 21,600 people in the country and infected more than half a million.

President Donald Trump last week played down the importance of testing, saying, “It's not necessary but it would be a good thing to have.”

Top experts on the White House coronavirus task force have made it clear testing is important, however, particularly as the country takes its first steps toward reopening, a move the Republican president has said he wants to make as soon as possible.