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BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua): Chinese President Xi Jinping extended his wish for a speedy recovery to his US counterpart Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Saturday.
In a message to Trump, Xi said that upon learning that President Trump and Melania tested positive for Covid-19, he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, express their sympathy and wish them a speedy recovery.
Foreign media reported that Trump was hospitalized on Friday and received an experimental treatment for Covid-19, but said he was “fine”, following news that he had contracted the virus, knocking him out of the election campaign a month into the American elections.
After not having been seen in public since the commotion was announced, the president left the White House Friday night, wearing a mask, and flew by helicopter to Walter Reed Military Hospital outside Washington.
In an 18-second video shot inside the White House and posted on Twitter, Trump broke his silence and said he was being hospitalized, but “I think I’m doing very well.”
“We’re going to make sure things work out,” he said, adding that first lady Melania Trump, who also contracted the virus, was “very well.”
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was receiving the antiviral drug remdesivir after consulting with specialists. The president “did not need supplemental oxygen,” he said in a statement Friday night.
Earlier, he said that medical experts recommended that Trump work from Walter Reed’s presidential offices “for the next few days.”
The hospitalization indicated an intense effort to ensure that the president’s supposedly “mild” symptoms do not deteriorate.
The development also highlighted the uncharted waters for the November 3 US election, with Trump lagging far behind his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls, having to freeze much of his campaign.
At first, advisers gave optimistic assessments, and Trump’s chief of staff said the 74-year-old president had only mild symptoms, was in a “good mood” and felt “very energetic.”
But later on Friday, White House physician Sean Conley said Trump received a single dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, a treatment not yet approved by regulators.
“It is being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we will make recommendations to the president and the first lady regarding the next best steps,” Conley wrote.
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News that his father “was obviously taking it very seriously, but he’s a fighter.”
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