'Feeling really good!': Donald Trump says he is leaving hospital after treatment for coronavirus

President Donald Trump speaks about coronavirus testing strategy, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020.
President Donald Trump speaks about coronavirus testing strategy, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. Copyright AP Photo/Evan Vucci
By Euronews
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Just in: Donald Trump says he is leaving hospital after treatment for COVID-19

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US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is "feeling really good" and that he will leave the hospital in the afternoon.

"I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.," the US leader announced on Twitter.

"Feeling really good!," he went on, adding: "I feel better than I did 20 years ago!"

Trump was flown to a military hospital on Friday evening, hours after the White House announced that he and his wife, Melania Trump, had tested positive for COVID-19.

During his stay at the hospital, Trump, 74, received doses of the experimental remdesivir drug and dexamethasone — a steroid used to treat the most severe case of COVID-19, his medical team revealed on Sunday. They also said his oxygen levels had twice dropped suddenly.

Doctors said Monday that over the past 24 hours, the president had "met or exceeded" requirements for discharge. They also said that he would receive a fourth dose of remdesivir before he left the hospital and that his final dose would be administered on Tuesday from the White House.

His personal physician, Dr Sean Conley, said that he hadn't had a fever in 72 hours and that both times he was administered "a little bit" of oxygen, he "came right off, he didn't need it."

Asked about the president's cognitive and mental state, Conley said that the "president has been a phenomenal patient" and that he had been "working hand in glove with the team".

"Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet," Conley added, Trump's clinical status "support his return home where he'll be surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7."

Conley refused to elaborate on the resident's lung scans or say when he last tested negative. He said that they had "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."

Ahead of his discharge, Trump told Americans: "Don't be afraid of Covid. Don't let it dominate your life."

"We have developed, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs & knowledge," he also claimed.

The US has paid the heaviest toll so far in the pandemic with SARS-Cov-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — infecting more than 7.4 million and claiming the lives of 209,938 people, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Trump's discharge comes a day after he was heavily criticised for taking a drive to wave at cheering supporters outside the hospital.

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