US President Donald Trump has been airlifted to a military hospital less than 24 hours after his Covid-19 diagnosis.
Mr Trump was taken by helicopter to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre on Friday and is expected to remain there for “a few days”.
A White House spokeswoman stressed that the hospital stay was “out of an abundance of caution” and that the 74-year-old would work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to continue his official duties.
Mr Trump walked out of the White House wearing a mask before boarding Marine One on Friday evening, and in a video on Twitter said: “I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out.”
Late on Friday, the president’s physician Sean Conley said the president was doing “very well”.
He added: “He is not requiring any supplemental oxygen, but in consultation with specialists we have elected to initiate Remdesivir therapy”.
Mr Trump tweeted: “Going well, I think! Thank you to all. Love!!!”
The US has been left reeling by the unfolding events surrounding Mr Trump’s health troubles, with the presidential election only four weeks away.
The president announced his diagnosis in a tweet in the early hours of Friday, following a positive test from one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks.
First lady Melania Trump has also tested positive and has a “mild cough and headache”, according to the doctor, but the remainder of the first family, including son Barron, who lives at the White House, have tested negative.
The president’s re-election campaign said all events featuring Mr Trump and members of his family would either be postponed or go online, but that vice-president Mike Pence would resume campaigning as he had tested negative.
Mr Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis is the latest among world leaders, with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also falling ill.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself was admitted to intensive care after contracting coronavirus during the first wave of UK infections in spring, expressed his best wishes to Mr and Mrs Trump, saying he was “sure that they will both stage a very strong recovery.”
The president is at higher risk of hospital admission and death from Covid-19 due to his age, gender and weight.
The 74-year-old falls into the high risk group purely because he is male – with men around twice as likely to die from coronavirus as women.
However, his biggest risk factor is his age, with experts concluding that age is by far the strongest predictor of an infected person’s risk of dying.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says people aged 65 to 74 have a five times higher risk of hospital admission with coronavirus compared with those aged 18 to 29, and a 90% higher risk of death.
For people aged 75 to 84, the risk of needing hospital admission jumps to eight times higher, with a 220 times higher risk of death.
Mr Trump is also overweight, though his doctor, Sean Conley, told reporters in June that he is healthy.
Mr Conley reported that Mr Trump weighed 17st 6lb (110.7kg).
Reporters calculated that, at 6ft 3in, the president was just over the threshold for obesity.
Related: With 32 days to go, what impact will Trump’s illness have on the election?
