WASHINGTON (AFP) - Media will be barred from the Republican National Convention (RNC) in North Carolina later this month, United States news outlets reported, when President Donald Trump will formally receive his party's nomination.

Soaring coronavirus cases have already forced Mr Trump to cancel the part of the convention planned for Florida's Jacksonville in July.

"We are planning for all of the Charlotte activities to be closed press: Friday, Aug 21 to Monday, 24th, given the health restrictions and limitations in place in the state," the convention spokesman had told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

"We are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events."

The vote to formally nominate Mr Trump will, however, be livestreamed, according to CNN, which cited a Republican official.

"This is an ill-advised decision that the @GOP @GOPconvention should reconsider," Mr Zeke Miller, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said on Saturday (Aug 1).

"The nomination of a major party presidential candidate is very much the business of the American people."

Mr Miller later tweeted: "An RNC official now says that the decision is not final and that they are still working through press coverage options."

Mr Trump has been forced to scrap his signature rallies because of the coronavirus epidemic, which is killing more than 1,000 Americans a day.