Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas
Video Producer: Debayan Dutta
On the afternoon of Monday, 5 October, United States President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he is going to be discharged later in the evening.
Aa the clock struck 6:30 pm EST, Trump tweeted:
TRUMP ADVISORS WORRIED ABOUT BAD OPTICS
Warning of the possible bad optics were his condition to worsen, Trump's advisors urged him not to check out of the hospital as recently as Monday morning, say reports.
At a press briefing after Trump's tweet announcement, his physician Dr Sean Conely said, "We worked with our infectious disease experts to make some recommendations for how to keep everything safe down at the White House for the President and those around him."
"We're looking at where he's going to be able to carry out his duties, office space, and I'll just say that it's in line with everything we've been doing upstairs for the last several days," he continued.
COVID AND THE WHITE HOUSE ARRANGEMENTS
"Our plan is to give him the fourth treatment of remdesivir this evening before he goes back to the White House, and we've made arrangements to deliver the fifth and final dose of his treatment course at the White House tomorrow evening," Dr Brian Garibaldi said in a news conference.
President Trump is being given a five-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir. The treatment is intended to shorten recovery time for COVID-19 patients.
The FDA originally authorised the emergency use of remdesivir for COVID-19 in May, but only to treat patients with severe coronavirus who needed extra oxygen or mechanical ventilation to help their breathing.
President Trump has been given supplemental oxygen twice during the course of his illness so far. His oxygen levels reportedly fell on both Friday and Saturday.
TESTED NEGATIVE?
When asked when Trump last tested negative for COVID-19, his medical team refused to answer. “I don’t want to go backwards,” Conley told reporters at Monday’s news briefing at Walter Reed National Medical Center, claiming that contact-tracing is “being done.”
“Though he may not be entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all his evaluations, and most importantly, his clinical status support his return home where he'll be surrounded by world class medical care 24/7,” he added.
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