Trump coronavirus news: Masked President airlifted from White House lawn to begin Walter Reed hospitalisation

Trump mocked Biden for wearing a face mask on Tuesday

With #TrumpHasCovid and There is a God currently trending on Twitter, not without some glee, here’s a reminder that the president was taunting his Democratic challenger at their midweek debate for covering his face on public engagments.

He also derided Biden for sticking to social distancing rules at his rally in Duluth, Minnesota, on Wednesday night.

George Conway, Lincoln Project co-founder and husband to Trump’s ex-counsel Kellyanne Conway, is among the many reminding us of his past claims about the virus, which he has repeatedly insisted will just magically disappear.

Trump clears schedule and cancels Florida rally

The president will not be go ahead with tonight’s “Great American Comeback” rally in the Sunshine State, which might have gone some way to soothing his battered ego after a bruising week.

 He is going ahead with one item on his schedule though…

Ironically, at 74, he himself falls into this category and is now a walking lesson in the consequences of Covid denialism.

Trump considered high risk for coronavirus because of age and weight say experts

Andrew Buncombe has this on the president’s physical condition, which leaves him especially vulnerable to Covid-19.

‘No guarantee’ Hope Hicks passed virus on to the Trumps, says top doctor

Speaking to CNN a short while ago, the neurosurgeon and commentator Dr Sanjay Gupta said contact tracers have a particularly tough task on their hands because there is no guarantee that Hope Hicks is the person who passed the virus on to the Trumps.

It’s possible that she was simply the first person to show symptoms, he suggests, meaning that almost the entire Trump campaign will need to get checked.

Dr Gupta described Mr Trump’s diagnosis as “unsettling” but “not entirely unexpected… given the contagiousness of this virus and the stunningly lax protocols in the West Wing”.

In terms of a prognosis, Dr Gupta said that “statistics are on [his] side”, with people - even males in their 70s - considerably more likely to make a recovery than not.

"But this is one of the great concerns... He is a vulnerable person because of his age, because of preexisting conditions.”   

Trump’s children declining to wear masks at debate could have placed Joe Biden at risk, supporters fear 

Attention will now inevitably turn to the Trumps’ movements in recent days - not to mention the long list of top officials and campaign aides who also travelled with Hope Hicks this week.

On Twitter, Biden supporters are clearly angry at the thought that their 77-year-old candidate may have been put at risk during Tuesday night’s debate in an indoors arena, albeit with social distancing measures and a dramatically reduced audience size.

Reporters have also noted that many in the Trump camp watching the debate in person, including his four children sat in the front row,  refused to wear masks during the debate:

Celebrities react

Aside from politicians and the international community, plenty of celebrities have been offering their take on Mr Trump’s positive diagnosis.

Perhaps the pick of the bunch is the director James Mangold simply reacting to the news by sharing a video of Joe Biden putting on a face mask.

There’s already plenty more where that came from, collated by our culture reporter Jacob Stalworthy:

Trumps ‘have paid the price for Covid-19 gamble’

International reaction is starting to pour in to the news that the Trumps have tested positive - and it isn’t all from well-wishers.

The UK government wishes the Trumps “a speedy recovery”, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sky News this morning - though he did add that the US has well-established succession protocols for if the worst happens. “All of us want to send our best wishes to President Trump, the First Lady and the Trump family and wish them a speedy recovery,” he said.

Mr Jenrick referenced the fact that Britain’s own leader Boris Johnson fell seriously ill with coronavirus in March, saying: “We know what it's like to have, in our case a prime minister who tested positive for Covid, and setting aside politics we all want to see him and his wife get better soon.”

From China, the reaction was more pointed - led by the outspoken editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times newspaper, Hu Xijin.

Though not a state official himself, Hu is known to enjoy the close backing of president Xi Jinping and is often interpreted as the hawkish voice of the Communist Party.  

Hu wrote on Twitter: "President Trump and the First Lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the Covid-19. The news shows the severity of the US’s pandemic situation. It will impose a negative impact on the image of Trump and the US, and may also negatively affect his reelection."

President 'met campaign donors after Hope Hicks tested positive’

The news first emerged that Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus just hours before the Trumps revealed their own results. 

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday night, Mr Trump said: “She did test positive. I just heard about that. Whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don't know… We'll see what happens. Who knows.”

It was only later that Mr Trump tweeted he and Melania were getting tested, and that they were beginning a “quarantine process” - it’s unclear what that meant at the time.

Yet according to The Washington Post, Mr Trump went on to conduct campaign events on Thursday even after White House officials became aware of Ms Hicks’ results.

Trump and his campaign team flew to New Jersey, where he attended a fundraiser and delivered a speech. According to The Post, the President was in close contact with dozens of other people, including campaign supporters at a roundtable, during this time.

Here’s Phil Thomas’s report.

Vice President Pence responds

In the event that Mr Trump is incapacitated by sickness, the duties of the President would fall to Vice President Mike Pence.

It’s of course worth emphasising right now that neither of the First Couple are said to be exhibiting symptoms - they are both “well”, according to the President’s physician.

But attention is still turning to Mr Pence, and the Vice President himself has responded to the news on Twitter.

He writes that he and his wife Karen Pence are “praying for [the Trumps’] full and swift recovery”.

“God bless you President Trump & our wonderful First Lady Melania,” he adds.

Statement from the President’s physician

A minute after Mr Trump’s tweet confirming the test results, the White House issued a release to The Independent and others giving the full memo from the President’s doctor Sean P Conley.

It read as follows:

"I release the following information with the permission of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

"This evening I received confirmation that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.