Biden’s condition has ‘improved’ since Covid diagnosis: W.House doctor

President Joe Biden’s symptoms “have improved” and his key vital signs, including blood pressure, remain normal, his White House doctor said Friday, a day after the 79-year-old US leader tested positive for Covid.

Biden, who is isolating in the White House, has posted on social media multiple times since his diagnosis that he is feeling “fine” and is continuing to carry out his duties as president.

“His symptoms have improved,” doctor Kevin O’Connor wrote in a memorandum to the White House press secretary.

Although Biden continued to suffer from a runny nose, cough and fatigue, his heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation remain “completely normal,” according to O’Connor.

While his temperature rose slightly to 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit (37.4 degrees Celsius) Thursday night, Biden was treated with acetaminophen and his temperature has remained normal ever since, the doctor said.

“The President is taking treatment well,” including the antiviral pill Paxlovid, which is being used to minimize the severity of Covid-19.

The highly transmissible subvariant Omicron BA.5 is currently fueling a new Covid wave in the United States – where hospital admissions have doubled in recent months.

While Biden is reportedly in good general health, the oldest-ever US president of his age is adding to concerns about the impact of Covid.

Biden, who has faced a heavy workload, like other presidents before him, had shown the strain in recent months: his walk is stiffer, his hair is thinner and his speech less fluent than when he took office.

And politically, Biden is at a rough patch in his presidency, as he faces November midterm elections that are expected to be painful for his Democratic Party, as well as falling personal approval ratings.

The White House has stressed since Biden’s diagnosis that the president has been fully vaccinated and boosted twice — and O’Connor reiterated that he is expected to “respond favorably” to treatment.

“So far nothing has come up during the course of his illness that gives me reason to change this initial expectation,” he wrote.

Biden will continue to isolate himself in accordance with guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his medical team will “continue to monitor him closely.”

While other members of Biden’s family and many close advisers contracted the virus, the president had so far remained Covid-free.

Upon taking office, he made a point of adhering to strict Covid protocols, holding socially distanced meetings or Zoom gatherings and wearing a mask at public events – in sharp contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump.

The then President Trump tested positive for the corona virus in October 2020 – in the middle of the bitterly contested election campaign he finally lost to Biden.