President Donald Trump is “very well” after spending his first night in a hospital where he is being treated after testing positive for coronavirus.
His personal doctor Dr Sean Conley said he was not on extra oxygen for now and had been fever-free for 24 hours.
However, conflicting reports have emerged suggesting concern over Mr Trump’s health, the time he was diagnosed or whether he was on oxygen.
Doctors, Nurses and ALL at the GREAT Walter Reed Medical Center, and others from likewise incredible institutions who have joined them, are AMAZING!!!Tremendous progress has been made over the last 6 months in fighting this PLAGUE. With their help, I am feeling well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
In exactly one month, Mr Trump faces Joe Biden in the presidential election.
The positive diagnosis, made public in a tweet on Friday, has upended his campaign and also cast doubt on his attempt to get a new Supreme Court judge confirmed before polling day.
The president is expected to remain at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center close to Washington DC for several days. Dr Conley said he was “cautiously optimistic” about his condition but that he could not give a timetable for his discharge.
But the doctors’ assessment was contradicted by a person familiar with the president’s condition who said some of his vital signs over the last 24 hours were “very concerning” and that the next 48 hours would be critical in terms of his care.
The president, being 74, a man and someone categorised as obese, is in a higher-risk category for Covid-19. He has so far been treated with an experimental drug cocktail injection and the antiviral medication remdesivir.
First Lady Melania Trump, who has also tested positive for Covid-19, was “doing great”, Dr Conley said.
What else did the doctors say?
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday morning, Dr Conley refused to say whether the president had ever been on oxygen despite being repeatedly questioned.
“At this time the team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made,” he said, adding that some symptoms including a mild cough and nasal congestion were “now resolving and improving.”
The doctor also said the team were “72 hours” into the president’s positive diagnosis. If confirmed, this would suggest Mr Trump attended two large campaign events possibly knowing he was infected.
Another doctor, Sean Dooley, said Mr Trump was in “exceptionally good spirits” having said earlier: “I feel like I could walk out of here today”.
The list of other people to have tested positive around Mr Trump include close aide Hope Hicks – believed to be the first to show symptoms – campaign manager Bill Stepien and former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway. Republican Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis have also tested positive.
Mr Trump remains in charge. Vice-President Mike Pence, to whom under the constitution the president would transfer power temporarily should he become too ill to carry out his duties, tested negative.
