Trump 'doing very well' in hospital, White House doctor says
President Donald Trump is "doing very well" at Walter Reed National Medical Centre after being hospitalised there for coronavirus, his White House doctor said on Saturday.
"I feel like I could walk out of here today," Trump told doctors, according to White House physician Dr Sean Conley.
"The president is doing very well," Conley said. "The team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made."
The long-awaited briefing is the first detailed official update on Trump's condition.
First lady Melania Trump, who has also tested positive, is reportedly doing much better than her husband and is recovering at home at the White House. Their teenage son, Barron Trump, has so far tested negative.
Trump announced his positive diagnosis early Friday after spending the day at a fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf resort. White House aide Hope Hicks received a positive test earlier Thursday.
Trump was initially said to be doing fine and suffering from nothing more than mild symptoms.
But the president's condition deteriorated throughout the day on Friday, with symptoms including difficulty breathing and a fever. He was later airlifted to Walter Reed National Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
Trump was given an experimental cocktail of antibodies and remdesivir, a promising drug that may help reduce recovery times for COVID-19 patients.
Trump, who is 74 years old and weighs 110 kilograms, is considered at high risk for the virus, but a large majority of similar patients recover from the virus without serious illness.
Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to the US President, has also tested positive to COVID-19.Credit:
It's not known how or when Trump contracted coronavirus.
He presided over a crowded Rose Garden event last Saturday to announce his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Several Republican lawmakers and GOP leaders who attended that event have since tested positive for the virus.
Trump's physician briefs reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre on Saturday.Credit:
Trump later appeared at the first presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden in Cleveland on Tuesday. Neither wore masks during the debate but were standing six feet apart.
Biden, who is 77, has so far tested negative for the illness.
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