Sun 24 July 2022:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 symptoms are now “less troublesome” sore throat, runny nose, loose cough, and body aches, according to a memo written by his doctor on Saturday.

The doctor stated that Biden’s lungs are still clear and that his oxygen saturation “continues to be excellent on room air.”

The 79-year-old Biden tested positive for COVID on Thursday, the day the White House reported that he was showing only minor symptoms. His diagnosis coincides with a new wave of cases in the United States caused by a highly contagious coronavirus subvariant.

Biden most likely has that BA5 variant, O’Connor said.

President Biden continued working from the White House this morning, including speaking by phone with his national security team. pic.twitter.com/jdQkoDtupR

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 22, 2022

“The president continues to tolerate treatment well. We will continue PAXLOVID as planned,” he said, referring to the Pfizer Inc antiviral drug the president is taking.

Dr O’Connor added that he believes the president – who is fully vaccinated and boosted – “will respond favourably [to the medication], as most maximally protected patients do.”

“There has been nothing in the course of his illness so far which gives me cause to alter that initial expectation,” Dr O’Connor said.

The presidential doctor’s assessment was echoed by his chief medical adviser, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr Anthony Fauci, who told CBS that he “fully expects” Biden to “do very well”.

“[Biden] is generally a healthy person. He has been vaccinated and boosted twice… and is feeling well enough to perform duties from the White House,” Dr Fauci added.

The White House has made an effort to emphasize Biden’s ability to overcome his illness. The president appeared in a video released on Thursday assuring Americans that everything was fine, and on Friday he took part in virtual meetings with White House staff.

There were no weekend presidential events listed on his schedule. First Lady Jill Biden, the president’s wife, is present at their Wilmington, Delaware, home.

BA.5 continues to spread

The daily average for new U.S. cases stood at 128,513 on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 19% from two weeks ago.

The daily average for hospitalizations rose to 42,449, up 18% in two weeks. The daily average for deaths is up 34% to 437.

U.S. COVID cases and hospitalizations are rising again and are now trending at the highest levels seen this summer, as the BA.5 omicron subvariant becomes dominant.

BA.5 is understood to be the most transmissible variant to emerge in the pandemic and to have an ability to break through vaccination and cause reinfection. BA.5 accounted for more than 53% of global cases sequenced in the week through July 10, according to the World Health Organization, up from 51% a week earlier.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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