President Trump during a May meeting with restaurant executives, during which he said he was taking hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malaria drug he has promoted as an coronavirus treatment, even though its efficacy has not been proven. Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The president of the United States and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19. The test results on Donald Trump and his wife Melania were made public in the early hours of Friday, following news reports that top presidential advisor Hope Hicks had contracted the disease. The president is now being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
It was unclear later on Saturday just how sick the president is. In a press conference early in the day, his doctor gave a relatively optimistic appraisal, saying the president was improving, but the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said Trump’s symptoms were “very concerning,” the New York Times reported. The president was receiving experimental anti-viral therapies that outside experts suggest, may indicate his condition is serious, the Times said.
Trump has for months played down the severity of the virus and told a political dinner just Thursday night that “the end of the pandemic is in sight.”
We will update this story, as information becomes available. To access the Bulletin’s collection of coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.
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