Joe Biden tests positive for Covid-19, ‘very mild symptoms’, White House says
- US president will continue carrying out his full duties while isolating at the White House, taking part in his planned meetings via Zoom
- The 79-year-old president is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and had begun taking Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill Paxlovid
US President Joe Biden had tested positive for Covid-19 and was experiencing “very mild symptoms”, the White House said on Thursday.
Following the positive diagnosis on Thursday morning, Biden began isolating at the White House and would “continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has also begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug developed by Pfizer, Jean-Pierre said.
In a memo, Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, described the president’s symptoms as mainly a runny nose, fatigue and a dry cough that started on Wednesday evening. Biden last tested negative on Tuesday.
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“The president is fully vaccinated and twice-boosted, so I anticipate that he will respond favourably [to the Paxlovid treatment], as most maximally protected patients do,” O’Connor wrote.
