Biden issues update on his health after ending Covid-19 isolation
Washington DC - President Joe Biden ended his Covid-19 isolation after testing negative twice, the White House said.
Biden said on Wednesday he was "feeling great," just under a week after he was diagnosed with Covid. He went into isolation last Thursday and was given a course of Paxlovid, a coronavirus treatment medication.
White House physician Kevin O'Connor said in a letter that the 79-year-old president tested negative on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday morning.
"His symptoms have been steadily improving, and are almost completely resolved," O’Connor wrote.
"My symptoms were mild, my recovery was quick and I'm feeling great," Biden said a short time later from the White House Rose Garden, during a speech in which he encouraged Americans to get their booster shots as the spread of the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron continues.
He also took a jab at ex-President Donald Trump, saying: "When my predecessor got Covid, he had to get helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center... When I got Covid, I worked from upstairs [in the White House]."
The president called on people to get boosted and tested as needed, and turn to Paxlovid if they become ill.
"God bless you all, and now I get to go back to the Oval Office," he told the assembled media at the end of his remarks.
Cover photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP