U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to be struggling to breathe after returning to the White House upon receiving Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment at a military hospital.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Trump on Monday evening returned to the White House from hospital, three days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Wearing a black mask and surrounded by Secret Service operatives, Trump walked out of the Walter Reed Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, at 6:38 p.m. (11:38 p.m. Nigerian time).
Against expectations, the president did not answer questions from newsmen, who could be heard shouting questions at him.
He was driven in a motorcade to a helipad nearby from where the presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew him on a short trip back to the White House.
On arrival at the White House, he removed his mask, paused for a brief photo op during which he waved to the cameras before entering his official residence.
However, he appeared to be struggling to breathe as captured in the video below.
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Shortly before leaving hospital, Trump tweeted that he was feeling much better and would be back on the campaign trail soon.
Four hours earlier, Trump had made a Twitter post in which he, again, downplayed the impact of the virus, and said he was feeling better than he did 20 years ago.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good!
“Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs and knowledge.
“I feel better than I did 20 years ago!,” he said.
Briefing newsmen earlier in the day, the president’s physician, Sean Conley, expressed support for his move to the White House.
However, Conley was quick to point out that Trump was “not necessarily out of the woods yet”, adding that he was on “uncharted territory” in terms of his treatment.
Trump’s discharge from hospital comes as more COVID-19 infections are reported among White House staff.
No fewer than 12 people close to the president – including White House Press a Secretary – Kayleigh McEnany, have tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Trump was faced a fresh backlash for removing his mask when he returned to the White House.
Trump, however, urged Americans not to fear the COVID-19 disease that has killed over 209,000 people in the country and put him in hospital.
Trump arrived at the White House on Monday in a made-for-television spectacle in which he descended from his Marine One helicopter wearing a white surgical mask only to remove it as he posed, saluting and waving, on the mansion’s South Portico.
“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.
“I’m better, and maybe I’m immune, I don’t know,” Trump said in a video after his return from the Walter Reed Medical Centre military hospital outside Washington where he was treated for the disease.
Trump, who was treated by an army of doctors and received experimental treatment, has repeatedly played down a disease that has killed over 1 million people worldwide and left his own country with the highest death toll in the world.
The Republican president, running for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, was admitted to hospital on Friday after being diagnosed with the disease.
Trump has repeatedly flouted social-distancing guidelines meant to curb the virus’ spread and ignored his own medical advisers.
He also mocked Biden at last presidential debate for wearing a mask at events, even when he is far from others.
His decision to remove his mask after climbing the staircase to the White House South Portico, a perch that put him at some distance from others and his insistence that Americans should not fear the disease horrified some physicians.
“I was aghast when he said COVID should not be feared,” said William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville.