NEW YORK, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) partially reopened its iconic trading floor on Tuesday after a two-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are starting cautiously, with new safety measures to limit the strain on the health-care system and the risk to those who work beneath our roof," said NYSE President Stacey Cunningham.

Safety measures such as wearing masks and physical distancing are required in the building.

The NYSE closed its trading floor and shifted to fully electronic trading on March 23 due to the coronavirus.

The partial reopening is set to bring back only about 80 floor brokers or about 25 percent of the trading floor population, according to the exchange.

"I look forward to the day when it is safe to welcome back the entire floor community," Cunningham said.

The move came as more U.S. states started to ease lockdown restrictions.

As of midday Tuesday, more than 1.66 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 98,000 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.