US President Donald Trump has acknowledged “time will tell” who will be in White House in January, as he delivered his first public remarks since his election defeat by President-elect Joe Biden.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, he hinted that he might not have won the election, but is still refusing to officially concede.

The president said his administration would not go into lockdown, even as the US sets records for confirmed cases of Covid-19 and deaths climb to the highest levels since the spring, but admitted he could not be sure what any future administration may decide to do.

Mr Trump said: “Ideally we will not go to a lockdown, I will not go, this administration will not be going to a lockdown, hopefully whatever happens in the future…who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell but I can tell you, this administration will not be going into a lockdown.”

His comments came as CNN declared that Biden had flipped the battleground state of Georgia and Trump won in North Carolina.

It means Biden has won a total of 306 electoral college votes – equalling the number Trump won four years ago – against the president’s 232.

During his speech, Mr Trump’s hailed developments in the race for a coronavirus vaccine and said one would ship in “a matter of weeks” to vulnerable populations, though the Food and Drug Administration has not yet been asked to grant the necessary emergency approvals.