Joe Biden ‘doing just fine’ after contracting COVID-19, says White House

United States president Joe Biden is “doing just fine” after he tested positive for COVID-19, according to the official briefing from the White House. During his appearance on CBS, White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha said,“It is the BA.5 variant, which is about 80% of infections. But thank goodness, our vaccines and therapeutics work well against it, which is why I think the president’s doing well.”

“I checked in with his team late last night. He was feeling well. He had a good day yesterday. He’s got a viral syndrome, an upper respiratory infection … and he’s doing just fine,” he explained.

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Biden, who has already received both vaccination doses and two booster shots, tested positive for the BA.5 variant on Thursday and his physician, Kevin O’Connor, said his “predominant symptom now is a sore throat”. He added that Biden is currently prescribed a daily regime of Paxlovid.

During the interview, Jha also made it clear that public will be provided with daily updates about Biden’s health and the news of any long-term absence will not be hidden.

“Absolutely,” he said. “You know, we think it’s really important for the American people to know how well the president’s doing, which is why we have been so transparent, giving updates several times a day, having people hear from me directly, hear directly from his physician.”

“And obviously if he has persistent symptoms, if any of them interfere with his ability to carry out his duties, we will disclose that early and often.”

“But I suspect this is going to be a course of Covid that we’ve seen in many Americans who have been fully vaccinated, double-boosted, getting treated with those tools in hand. You know, the president has been doing well, and we’re gonna expect that he’s going to continue to do so,” Jha added.

(With inputs from agencies)