President Trump Discharged from Hospital
President Donald Trump has been released from hospital and returned to the White House to continue his treatment for coronavirus after a three-night hospital stay.
The president, who is still contagious, removed his mask on the balcony of the White House, while posing for pictures.
Donald Trump’s physician said he would continue treatment from there, and he “may not entirely be out of the woods yet”.
Several of President Trump’s staff and aides have also tested positive for the virus in recent days.
Questions remain over the seriousness of the president’s illness after a weekend of conflicting statements.
The US remains the country worst-hit by Covid-19, with 210,000 deaths and 7.4 million cases.
President Trump’s diagnosis has upended his campaign for a second term in office, less than a month before the Republican president faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Wearing a navy business suit, tie and mask, President Trump walked out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the Washington DC suburbs on Monday evening pumping his fist.
After a short helicopter ride, the president was pictured alone on the Truman Balcony of the White House. He removed his protective face mask, before giving a thumbs-up and a military-style salute.
A couple of hours later, he tweeted a campaign-style clip of his return set to stirring music.
President Trump also recorded a video message, urging Americans to get back to work.
“You’re going to beat it [coronavirus],” he told them.
“We’re going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front, and led.”
President Trump also speculated: “Now I’m better, maybe I’m immune, I don’t know”.
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The WHO says it is too early to know if people who have recovered from Covid-19 are protected from a second infection, and if so, how long this protection might last. President Trump’s own medical team does not consider him to be fully recovered yet.
He also promised that vaccines were “coming momentarily”, although the CDC has said no vaccine is expected to be widely available before the middle of next year.
Before leaving hospital, President Trump told Americans in a tweet not to fear the disease and said he would be back on the campaign trail “soon”.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden said he was “glad” the president appeared to be “coming along pretty well”.
However, Joe Biden criticized President Trump, saying: “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them.”
According to US public health guidelines, President Trump should remain in isolation for up to 10 days after symptoms first appear. The White House says the president first started to appear ill on October 1, and later tested positive.
His physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said on October 5 that the president, whose oxygen levels dipped twice over the weekend, would be “surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7” at the White House.
Dr. Conely refused to answer questions about when President Trump last received a negative test or to go into the specifics of his treatment. He would not offer details regarding the president’s scans to check for pneumonia, citing patient protection laws.