Donald Trump has started undergoing treatment for Covid-19 symptoms after he was flown to hospital as a “precaution” on Friday night.
The president has a low-grade fever, nasal congestion and a cough, according to two sources close to Mr Trump.
White House physician Dr Sean P. Conley said that the president “was doing very well”, did not need supplemental oxygen, and had received a first dose of Remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug.
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump had a fever and was “struggling to breathe”.
The US president announced his Covid-19 diagnosis in a tweet in the early hours of Friday, following a positive test from one of his closest aides.
Mr Trump, who along with wife Melania has tested positive for Covid-19, was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, for a “few days”, his press secretary said.
“I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out,” Mr. Trump said in an 18-second video, filmed in the White House shortly before his departure for the hospital.
“The first lady is doing very well,” Mr. Trump added.
On Friday evening Mr Trump walked unaided from the White House to a waiting helicopter before being flown to the hospital.
The president ha already been given another experimental treatment of synthetic antibodies for Covid-19, his doctor said.
Follow the latest updates below.
11:12 AM
Madrid sharing citizens’ medical information with police as an “exceptional measure”
Madrid is sharing citizens’ medical information with the police as an “exceptional measure” to enforce self-isolation rules, James Braddock reports.
As Spain fights a second wave of Covid-19, police forces across the country are being brought in to search for infected citizens and any suspected contacts who are ignoring the requirement to quarantine at home.
The Madrid regional government says that public health legislation allows them to make such use of personal data as an “exceptional measure” in the current crisis. The task for police officers remains enormous in a region where between 3,000 and 4,000 new cases are being identified each day.
“We lack personnel, we lack instructions, we lack PPEs … and time,” said Jaime Johnson, secretary general of the Madrid Police Union (UPM).
He said the force has been cooperating with the regional health service for the past month. “They asked us to locate the positives who didn’t reply to efforts by tracers to contact them.
We went door to door, with just a basic surgical facemask on – it’s like sending us to infected people’s homes wearing nothing,” Mr Johnson told the online newspaper La Información.
11:07 AM
Boris Johnson says he is sure Donald Trump will “come through it very well”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is sure US president Donald Trump will “come through it very well” as he is treated for Covid-19 in hospital.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday morning, Mr Johnson said he rang the White House on Friday night and added: “I think obviously everybody’s wishing him and Melania the very best and hoping that they recover speedily and I’ve no doubt that he will, he’ll make a very strong recovery.”
When asked if he had any advice for Mr Trump, Mr Johnson said: “I think that he will be doing exactly what the doctors tell him to do and I’m sure he will be having the best care he can possibly get.”
10:54 AM
Was Rose Garden a super spreader event?
At least seven people who attended a White House event to announce President Trump’s Supreme Court pick have since tested positive for Covid-19, raising speculation the Rose Garden ceremony could have been a ‘super spreader’ event.
10:45 AM
Chinese President sends message of sympathy to Trump and Melania over positive test for Covid
Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a message of sympathy to president Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump according to official state broadcasters.
Mr Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan wished the presidential couple an early recovery from Covid-19.
10:39 AM
Daughter of Donald Trump’s former advisor launches abusive tirade against president
President Donald Trump’s former adviser Kellyanne Conway has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The news was first revealed by her teenage daughter Claudia in a TikTok video but Conway later took to Twitter to confirm.
Claudia, 15, posted a series of videos on Tiktok in which she took the opportunity to attack Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
“My mom coughing all around the house after Trump tested positive for COVID,’ she wrote on the first video as she lip-synced the lines ‘that’s weird, that’s suspicious’.
‘When my lungs hurt and it’s hard for me to breathe,’ she wrote on the next, revealing that she was also experiencing coronavirus symptoms.
‘Bye I’m done, I’ll see you all in two weeks,’ she wrote in the caption.
‘I’m furious. Wear your masks. Don’t listen to our idiot f*****g president piece of s**t. Protect yourself and those around you,’ she added.
10:18 AM
Airport testing announcement to be made ‘in coming days’, says Treasury minister
The Government will make an announcement about airport testing “in the coming days”, a Treasury minister has said in the first key moment of the Conservative party conference today.
Steve Barclay, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye airport testing was a “key priority” adding that Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, to make an announcement on this “in the coming days”.
Catherine Neilan has the full story here
The aviation industry has long called for airport testing to be introduced as a way of reducing the amount of time people will have to spend in quarantine after arriving in the UK from one of the many counties on the “red list”.
Read more here about the Telegraph’s campaign Test4Travel to scrap quarantine through airport testing
10:15 AM
Madrid starts partial Covid-19 lockdown
Madrid awoke Saturday to its first day under a partial lockdown, with police controlling travel in and out of the Spanish capital that has become Europe’s biggest hot spot for the second wave of the coronavirus.
The two-week ban imposed by Spain’s national government on reluctant regional officials started Friday night at 8pm GMT.
The measures prohibit all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs _ affecting around 4.8 million people. Restaurants must close at 11 p.m. and shops at 10 p.m., and reduce occupancy to 50% of their capacity.
Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said the steps were “critical” to stop a surging caseload and prevent a repeat of the horrific scenes of March and April that saw hospitals overrun with dying patients.
10:08 AM
Malaysian government blames migrants for spike in Covid cases
Malaysia will not re-impose widespread coronavirus restrictions on travel despite a recent spike in infections, which a government minister said was partly caused by migrants from neighbouring countries.
Malaysia imposed a nationwide lockdown in March but has been gradually lifting the curbs, though authorities have warned that they could be reinstated if daily increases in infections reached triple-digits.
The Southeast Asian country has seen a steady climb in cases in the past week and on Friday reported 287 new infections, the highes t daily rise since it began tracking the pandemic.
09:57 AM
Donald Trump’s ‘antibody cocktail’ to be rolled out in 40 UK hospitals
Donald Trump is taking an ‘antibody cocktail’ that is set to be rolled out to coronavirus patients in 40 hospitals in the UK next week.
The cocktail, called REGN-COV2, is made by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron, which previously developed a similar antibody drug against Ebola.
Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at Oxford University and co-chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial, which is now testing the cocktail, said it going to be made available to dozens of UK hospitals.
“We have it in the RECOVERY trial in the UK – we started that over last weekend. It’s currently available in about three hospitals in the North. We’ll be rolling it out next week to another 30 or 40 hospitals,” Professor Horby told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Phoebe Southworth has the full story here
09:49 AM
Inside Donald Trump’s Covid-19 hospital
The interior of the Walter Reed Hospital, where Donald Trump has been admitted after contracting Covid-19 is revealed below.
09:38 AM
South Korea police set up ‘bus walls’ to prevent protests amid Covid-19 concerns
South Korean police has mobilised hundreds of buses to head off any political rallies in the capital, Seoul, with authorities determined to prevent another cluster of Covid-19 cases emerging from a protest.
The spread of the virus has slowed in recent weeks but the government has banned more than 100 demonstrations planned for Saturday’s National Foundation Day, warning of strict punishment for any illegal protest.
Police parked buses along main avenues and around a central Seoul square to seal them off. They also set up some 90 checkpoints to prevent vehicl es bringing protesters while the subway did not stop at several stations at protest venues
09:29 AM
What is Regeneron’s ‘antibody cocktail’? The experimental Covid-19 drug taken by Trump
The antibody cocktail taken by Donald Trump is an experimental therapy that uses two or more lab-engineered antibodies that is believed to reduce levels of the coronavirus and improve a patient’s symptoms.
Mr Trump was given the drug before being taken to hospital on Friday after experiencing symptoms of Covid-19.
The antibody cocktail, produced by US biotechnology company Regeneron, is still undergoing clinical trials and has not received any form of regulatory approval.
Rozina Sabur has the full story here
09:23 AM
Was the Rose Garden meeting a super spreader event?
Speculation is growing after numerous people in attendance at a Rose Garden ceremony hosted by the president tested positive for coronavirus, including Donald Trump himself.
Over 200 people attended the event on September 25, the majority sans face mask.
CBS journalist Norah O’Donnell shared a closeup photograph of the ceremony’s attendees on Twitter.
At least seven of those present for the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett as supreme court nominee are now self isolating.
On Friday, the president’s former counsellor Kellyanne Conway revealed she had tested positive and had “mild” symptoms, whilst two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Mike Lee, also announced they had tested positive.
09:15 AM
Russia: New Covid-19 cases reach 10,000
Russia reported 9,859 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest number of daily infections since May 15, when the outbreak was at its peak.
The country’s coronavirus crisis centre said that 174 coronavirus deaths had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, which took the official national death toll to 21,251.
09:07 AM
‘Worried we might lose him,’ says Dominic Raab on PM’s bout with Covid-19
Foreign minister Dominic Raab said he worried for Boris Johnson’s life when the prime minister was hospitalised with Covid-19 in April.
Mr Raab stood in for Johnson for almost a month while the prime minister recovered.
The Prime Minister first became ill with the coronavirus in late March and ended up in intensive care at one point.
“I really worried we might lose him and I was worried for Carrie pregnant with baby Wilf,” Raab is due to say at the virtual Conservative Party conference later on today, the Times reported.
Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds was pregnant with their son at the time.
08:50 AM
Trump said he wasn’t concerned about catching Covid in new audio
In a newly revealed audio recording from an interview between American investigative journalist Bob Woodward and Donald Trump on April 13, the president said he was not concerned about catching Covid-19.
In a recording obtained by CNN, Trump admitted to Woodward the virus is a “plague” that “rips you apart”.
When Woodward pressed the President about whether he was worried about becoming infected, Trump dismissed concerns about his own health.
Mr Woodward said: “You’re risking getting it, of course”. “The way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?”
“No, I’m not. I don’t know why I’m not. I’m not,” the President responded.
“Why?” Woodward asked. “I don’t know,”
Trump said. “I’m just not.”
08:34 AM
No plans to reimburse tuition fees over Covid-19, Edinburgh University announces
Professor Peter Mathieson, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said there were no plans to refund tuition fees as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak affecting students.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We’re not planning to make tuition fee refunds because we believe that the quality of tuition that we can provide, especially if we are able to provide a mixture of face-to-face and online tuition, is still very high.
“An Edinburgh degree will still be a fabulous investment for these students.
“We are very concerned about students whose teaching has been disrupted and who have had a bad experience in terms of some of their accommodation support.
“So we are making food vouchers available, we will listen to requests for specific expenses to be reimbursed but generally we believe we should invest in these students’ futures, it is in their best interests to stay with us and to receive the education we can offer.”
08:25 AM
Government plans to ease local lockdowns ‘as soon as it is ‘safe to do so’
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the Government wanted to ease local lockdowns “as soon as it was safe to do so”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We have had to put in restrictions that none of us would naturally want to do, certainly not on the Conservative benches.
“In other political parties it may be something different but on the Conservative side, these are things that we would not necessarily want to do but we have to in order to protect people’s lives.
“And that means you take actions which you find uncomfortable and I think actually the big difference is that we will look to relieve those restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Responding to reports that tax rises could be used to pay for the Government’s Covid spending, Mr Cleverly added: “We have put in a package of support which was absolutely the right thing to do.
08:21 AM
Potent experimental drug given to Trump already being used in UK
A “very potent” experimental coronavirus drug being given to Donald Trump is already being used in a handful of UK hospitals, according to an Oxford University professor.
The US president was given the artificial antibody treatment at the White House on Friday after being diagnosed with Covid-19, before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
The drug began being used in “about three hospitals in the north” last weekend as part of Oxford University’s national Recovery trial, said Professor Peter Horby.
Prof Horby, who specialises in emerging infectious diseases at Oxford University and is co-chief investigator of the Recovery trial, added that the drug is due to be rolled out to “another 30 to 40 hospitals” in the UK next week.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning, Prof Horby described the drug as “very promising” and “very potent”.
He said: “The class of drugs, these artificial antibodies, have been around for quite a while now, and they’ve been extensively used in inflammatory conditions and cancers, and they’re pretty safe and well understood, and so the technology is something that I think we have confidence in.
06:59 AM
Hospital has ‘cared for every president of the United States’
The Walter Reed hospital, where Donald Trump has been admitted, has a long and rich history when it comes to matters presidential.
Bearing the full title of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, the facility was founded on a site eight miles north-west of the White House at Bethesda, Maryland, chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938.
Ground was broken for the building of the hospital, then known simply as the Naval Medical Centre, two months before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe.
In 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, a local coroner insisted his post-mortem examination should be held at the city’s Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was first taken, since the shooting occurred in Dallas County.
However, the Secret Service intervened, and Mr Kennedy’s body was immediately flown back to Washington for an examination at the Bethesda facility.
The hospital says on its website it has “served and cared for every president of the United States”, as well as members of Congress and the Supreme Court.
06:35 AM
Ivanka full of praise for ‘warrior’ father
After testing negative for coronavirus, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka took to Twitter to wish her father and step-mother a speedy recovery.
“Praying for the swift recovery of my father and Melania and for all those impacted by Covid-19,” she wrote.
“As they fight this together, the President will continue to fight for the people of this great country.”
Hours later she retweeted her father’s video message in which he thanked well-wishers.
“You are a warrior and will beat this. I love you dad,” Ivanka wrote.
06:19 AM
Biden continues campaigning ahead of election
After the shock announcement that the President of the United States had tested positive for coronavirus, Joe Biden and his wife were quickly tested on Friday.
It was an understandable decision, given that Mr Biden was on stage with the President during their off-the-rails election debate – three nights before the diagnosis.
Minutes after the Bidens’ results came back negative, Mr Biden’s team fired up the campaign jet and he flew to battleground Michigan, a key Rust Belt state that Mr Trump claimed in 2016.
The message was clear: Mr Biden is not letting Mr Trump’s diagnosis upend his own campaigning.
“It’s a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. It’s not going away automatically,” he said, perhaps a jab at Mr Trump’s repeated insistence that the virus will simply “disappear”.
06:02 AM
Trump train derailed – as Biden continues to wear a mask
Donald Trump has mocked Joe Biden for months over his cautious campaigning during the pandemic.
But AFP reports that with the President in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19, his Trump train has derailed for now. And Democratic challenger Mr Biden has the stage to himself one month before election day.
It is too soon to predict how Mr Trump’s diagnosis could impact the White House race – already the most turbulent US presidential battle of modern times and one repeatedly upended by history-making events.
But the irony of the latest twist in the septuagenarian showdown has been lost on no one.
On Tuesday night, Mr Trump doubled down on his ribbing of Mr Biden for taking too many virus precautions.
“He could be speaking 200 feet away from you, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve seen,” the 74-year-old Republican incumbent sneered.
In the early months of the pandemic, as Mr Biden, 77, remained isolated in his Delaware home, Mr Trump belittled “Sleepy Joe” for “hiding” in his basement – a charge his supporters lapped up and repeated.
Mr Biden mostly has been meticulous about avoiding crowds and wearing masks in public.
04:36 AM
President starts Remdesivir therapy
The White House physician says his medical team has “elected to initiate Remdesivir therapy” for Donald Trump.
Dr Sean Conley said Mr Trump was “doing very well” and “not requiring any supplemental oxygen”.
Dr Conley said he recommended that Mr Trump be moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre “for further monitoring”.
READ MORE: What is Remdesivir
04:29 AM
Trump campaign manager tests positive
Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has tested positive for coronavirus.
Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh has confirmed the news, which was first reported by Politico.
Politico said Mr Stepien received his diagnosis on Friday and was experiencing “mild flu-like symptoms”.
Mr Stepien, who joined Mr Trump at Tuesday’s first presidential debate, plans to quarantine until he recovers.
04:10 AM
Trump tweets message of love
Donald Trump is known for his regular Twitter posts – that is how he announced to the world that he had tested positive.
Yet he remained unusually quiet on social media for about 18 hours, until he posted an 18-second video on Friday at 11.30pm (GMT) thanking people for their “tremendous support” (read our 1.52am post).
He followed that up hours later with another tweet announcing: “Going well, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!”
Going welI, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
02:37 AM
Trump’s former adviser tests positive
Donald Trump’s former adviser has announced that she has tested positive for coronavirus, the latest political figure to say they have Covid-19 after attending a Rose Garden event last Saturday in which the president announced his Supreme Court pick.
Kellyanne Conway said: “Tonight I tested positive for COVID-19. My symptoms are mild (light cough) and I’m feeling fine.”
Tonight I tested positive for COVID-19. My symptoms are mild (light cough) and I’m feeling fine. I have begun a quarantine process in consultation with physicians.
As always, my heart is with everyone affected by this global pandemic. ❤️
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) October 3, 2020
02:13 AM
Biden: I’m praying for Trump
Joe Biden has said he is praying for Trump and his family as his campaign announced it would take down all negative election ads.
However, Mr Biden also reminded Americans that he has pushed consistently for taking coronavirus seriously, unlike his opponent who has repeatedly mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of masks, yet now finds himself infected.
“Be patriotic,” Mr Biden told supporters in Michigan through a blue surgical mask. “It’s not about being a tough guy. It’s about doing your part.”
01:07 AM
President ‘in a race’ against virus, says drug boss
Donald Trump is now “in a race” against coronavirus according to the chief executive of the drug company who provided the experimental drug being taken by the president.
Dr Leonard Schleifer’s biotechnology company Regeneron have developed the experimental antibody treatment that was given to Mr Trump on Friday, before he was flown to hospital.
Mr Schleifer told CNN: “He’s in a race where his immune system is racing against the virus, and if the virus wins you can have dire consequences, obviously, and what our antibodies do is we make it a fair fight.”
“He’s in a higher risk group for a variety of reasons such as being older, and if we give our antibodies, we hope that we will give his immune system enough of a boost so that he can win this and make a complete recovery,” Dr Schleifer said.
“That’s the strategy. We’ve got a lot of data but we’re still in the experimental phase, but when you’re in the midst of a pandemic and you have people at risk, we think it makes sense to try these,” he added.
Read more: What is Regeneron’s ‘antibody cocktail’? The experimental Covid-19 drug taken by Donald Trump
12:52 AM
Trump: ‘I think I’m doing very well’
Donald Trump has said he was “well” following news that he had contracted the virus and was being transported to hospital.
After having not been seen in public since tweeting that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, the president walked out of the White House Friday evening, wearing a mask, and flew by helicopter to the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington.
In an 18-second video recorded inside the White House and released on Twitter, Mr Trump thanked supporters and said he was being hospitalised but “I think I’m doing very well”.
“We’re going to make sure that things work out,” he said, adding that the First Lady was also “doing very well.”
12:48 AM
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