Oklahoma's Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump's rally on Saturday in Tulsa, his first since March, can go ahead.

A lawsuit to stop the 20 June event over concerns that it could increase the spread of Covid-19 in the community was filed this week.

Virus cases are rising in Oklahoma, and local health officials have expressed concerns over hosting the rally.

The Trump campaign says they received over 1m ticket requests for the event.

The queue for the event at the Bank of Oklahoma Center - which seats 19,000 people - began forming earlier this week.

Facing tough re-election prospects in November, the president is hoping to reboot his campaign after a rocky week that has seen news of sinking opinion poll numbers, twin US Supreme Court defeats, two damning tell-all memoirs and a resurgence in coronavirus cases.

The lawsuit to cancel his rally was filed by John Hope Franklin for Reconciliation, a nonprofit organisation that promotes racial equality, and a commercial real estate company, the Greenwood Centre.

They argued the venue should mandate social distancing guidelines in accordance with US public health officials' recommendations, or cancel the event.

But the Supreme Court said that as the state had begun to reopen, the regulations left social distancing decisions up to individual business owners. Oklahoma has seen a recent spike in coronavirus cases.

In response to safety concerns, the Trump campaign has said they will check attendees' temperatures and offer hand sanitiser and masks.

But people buying tickets for the Tulsa rally online also have to click on a waiver confirming they "voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19" and will not hold the president's campaign responsible for "any illness or injury".

Source: BBC