WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden continues to have mild symptoms of COVID-19, the White House said on Friday, one day after he tested positive for the virus and as a highly contagious subvariant drives a new wave of cases in the United States.
“He was doing just fine” as of Thursday night, White House COVID Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told CNN.
“The symptoms were basically the same,” Jha said, adding that he would check the president’s condition again on Friday morning. “As of 10 p.m. …. he said he was feeling just fine.”
The White House on Thursday announced that Biden had tested positive for COVID-19, was experiencing mild symptoms and would continue working but in isolation.
Biden, who at 79 is the oldest person ever to serve as president of the United States, is due to hold three virtual meetings on Friday, his public schedule released by the White House showed.
He began experiencing a runny nose, fatigue and an occasional dry cough late on Wednesday and is taking the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, White House physician Kevin O’Connor said on Thursday.
Fully vaccinated and twice boosted, Biden said he was “doing well” in a video posted on his Twitter account on Thursday. In the 21-second clip, he also said he was “getting a lot of work done” and would continue with his duties.
Jha said it was still unclear where exactly Biden, who recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, contracted the novel coronavirus. He told CNN he was unaware of any linked cases among Biden’s recent close contacts but that the White House was continuing to conduct contract tracing.
Jha said he and O’Connor would provide ongoing updates of Biden’s condition but that he did not know whether the White House would release any more videos or pictures of the president.
The White House has scheduled a briefing for an update on Biden’s health at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT).
U.S. COVID cases have jumped more than 25% in the last month, according to CDC data, as the new BA.5 subvariant takes hold there and across the world.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Katharine Jackson; editing by John Stonestreet)