Trump leaves hospital, doffs mask on return

After spending three days in a hospital for COVID-19 treatment, US President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Monday evening, where the outbreak has widened with his press secretary becoming the latest to test positive for the coronavirus virus earlier in the day.

Shortly beforehand, Trump had tweeted that the people of the United States have nothing to fear. More than 210,000 have died of the virus in the US－the biggest reported toll of any country in the global pandemic.

Trump, 74, was seen to take off his mask as he walked upstairs to the South Portico balcony of the Executive Mansion after flying back from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, where he was admitted on Friday evening after being diagnosed with the virus.

With less than a month until the Nov 3 election, polls show Trump behind Democrat Joe Biden.

"Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!!" Trump said in one tweet.

"Don't be afraid of Covid," he said in another, claiming to be feeling rejuvenated after his hospital stay.

Biden said he hoped that after having such an experience, the president would convey a message to people in the US.

"I would hope the president－having gone through what he went through, and I'm glad he seems to be coming along pretty well－would communicate the right lesson to the American people. Masks matter," he said on Monday evening.

In a briefing from the hospital, presidential physician Sean Conley said Trump is "back", but also that he would not be "entirely out of the woods" for another week.

It wasn't clear how free Trump will be to move about in the White House's crowded corridors and small office spaces. The facility, however, has a medical team of its own that will monitor the president for signs of relapse.

About 65 percent of the US public said Trump would not have been infected had he taken the virus more seriously, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

'Political reasons'

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, said earlier in the day that she hoped people could hear a "trustworthy report" from Trump's doctors about his release from the hospital, and that she was concerned that his returning to the White House was for political reasons.

Trump's return to the White House seems certain to raise the already heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow him.

Three reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive.

Agencies and Cui Haipei contributed to the story.