Biden positive for Covid, symptoms 'very mild'
President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, with his doctors saying the 79-year-old leader was experiencing only mild fatigue and would isolate at the White House while carrying out his duties. Biden, who posted a picture of himself working at his desk, tweeted that he was "doing great" – and apologised for missing a scheduled event in Pennsylvania. "Keeping busy!" added the US leader, in a post carefully curated to show he remains at the country's helm – smiling in a suit, with smartphones and documents laid out in front of him. In announcing Biden's diagnosis, the White House stressed that the president was fully vaccinated and twice boosted, and said he was "experiencing very mild symptoms." It said Biden was taking Pfizer's Paxlovid pill, an antiviral used to minimise the severity of Covid-19. "Consistent with CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, he will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time," it added in a statement. Biden's doctor Kevin O'Connor wrote in an official note that the president was suffering from fatigue, a runny nose and a dry cough, starting on Wednesday evening. O'Connor added that the president had tested positive in a rapid antigen test on Thursday morning before the result was confirmed by a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test. "I talked to him just a few minutes ago. He's doing fine, he's feeling good," First Lady Jill Biden, who tested negative, told reporters on a visit to a school in Michigan. Mr Biden's ratings have recently hit a new low, with only 31 percent of Americans satisfied with the way he is running the country, according to the latest polls. The highly-transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant is currently fueling a new wave of Covid cases in the United States – where hospitalisations have doubled in recent months. The country is seeing some 130,000 new reported cases daily, but the figure is thought to be substantially underestimated due to the expanded use of home tests, whose results are not typically reported to authorities. (AFP)