US President Donald Trump said the coming days will be the "real test" for his coronavirus recovery, while his doctor said he was "not out of the woods" on Saturday.
Trump, who is being treated at a military hospital, posted a video message to Twitter on Saturday night.
Trump was dressed in a suit without a tie and was seated as he recorded the message. He sounded slightly congested and short of breath.
"I think I'll be back soon," he said, adding that he is fighting to beat the virus at a personal level and globally.
"I have to get back because we still have to make America great again," he said, using his campaign slogan.
He said he was "starting to feel good" but acknowledged the next few days would be the real test. He also thanked his domestic and international supporters for the well wishes and "outpouring of love."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
Deterioration on Friday
A deterioration on Friday had caused concern, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said shortly after in comments to Fox News.
"Yesterday morning we were real concerned ... he had a fever and his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly," Meadows said Saturday.
Meadows said Trump had made an "unbelievable improvement" since then.
His physician Sean Conley said Trump had made substantial progress, remains fever-free and does not need extra oxygen, in a Saturday night memo.
Trump worked for most of the afternoon and moved around the medical suite without difficulty, he added.
"While not out of the woods, the team remains cautiously optimistic," he added.
The Saturday night updates followed a day of confusion over Trump's condition, with Conley earlier saying he was making positive progress, but another source anonymously saying minutes later that Trump's vital signs had been worrying.
"The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery," the source told White House reporters travelling with the president.
Severe symptoms
Fox News had reported that Trump had shown "troubling signs" of progression from mild to more severe symptoms before being moved to the Walter Reed medical centre, a military facility outside Washington, on Friday.
However, the report quoted a senior administration official as saying that "for the past 12 hours there have been zero concerns."
There was also a lack of clarity about the timeline of the president's infection and diagnosis. This has become a particularly important point, as the president held a fundraiser in New Jersey on Thursday.
Conley also misstated the type of antibody treatment the president received and misspelled the name of a drug he is taking.
The comments and reversals only added to a sense of disorder coming from a White House that has repeatedly been perceived as chaotic.
The medical team said Trump has received an experimental antibody cocktail in addition to a therapeutic medicine, Remdesivir, which is usually a five-day treatment course.
The medics insisted Trump is still able to work. He had already resumed tweeting earlier Saturday, urging lawmakers to pass a stimulus bill for coronavirus relief to help the struggling economy.
Risk group
Trump is 74 years old and overweight, the medics noted. Also, as a male, he is in a higher risk group for complications from Covid-19.
The cluster of people around Trump who have announced in the past two days that they have coronavirus continues to grow.
Chris Christie, who was part of the team that helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate last Tuesday, said he checked himself into hospital Saturday due to his "history of asthma."
Trump's wife Melania, his campaign manager Bill Stepien, and top adviser Hope Hicks have all tested positive.
Three Republican senators announced they tested positive for the coronavirus since Friday. Two were with the president last Saturday at a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden to nominate Trump's pick for a new Supreme Court Justice.
Most people at the event did not wear masks and Trump himself has rarely been seen in public with a face covering, earning him repeated criticism from opponents.
The illness comes at a crucial point in Trump's re-election campaign, with him trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the polls. Two fresh polls, one from The New York Times and one from The Hill, showed Biden gaining after the presidential debate.
Trump had been aggressively hitting the campaign trail, trying to close the yawning gap, and these events are now being cancelled as he cannot travel.
Appearing to address criticism, Trump said in his video message on Saturday that he couldn't have been "locked up" in the White House, and needed to be "out front."
"As a leader you have to confront problems," he said.
The coronavirus has killed more than 208,000 people in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
