Trump claims immunity from coronavirus, says ready for election fight

US President Donald Trump has claimed that he is “immune” from the coronavirus and ready to return to campaign rallies during the critical final weeks of the race for the White House.

"It looks like I'm immune for, I don't know, maybe a long time and maybe a short time, it could be a lifetime, nobody really knows, but I'm immune," Trump said in a Fox News interview on Sunday.

"You have a president who is immune... so now you have a president who doesn't have to hide in a basement like his opponent," Trump added, taking a swipe at his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his far more cautious approach to campaigning in a pandemic.

Trump's physician announced a day earlier that the 74-year-old had taken a test showing he was no longer infectious and there was no evidence "of actively replicating virus," but did not directly say whether the American head of state had tested negative.

"I passed the highest test, the highest standards, and I'm in great shape," Trump, who spent three days in the hospital after revealing he had tested positive on October 2, told Fox News Channel.

Trump also stressed that he was no longer on medications for the coronavirus.

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The US president suggested during his phone interview on Fox News that his White House rival could himself be sick.

"If you look at Joe, he was coughing yesterday horribly and grabbing his mask, as he's coughing," Trump said. "And I don't know what that was all about, and it didn't get much press."

The Biden campaign has been publishing daily coronavirus tests for their 77-year-old candidate since Trump was diagnosed with the respiratory disease.

Trump, who is trailing Biden in opinion polls, is set to resume his campaign after an absence of more than a week and plans to travel to the key battleground state of Florida on Monday, followed by rallies in Pennsylvania and Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Biden held leads ranging from 5 to 12 points over Trump in four polls completed on October 6, according to a RealClearPolitics compilation of surveys.

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Twitter flags Trump tweet for COVID-19 misinformation

Also on Sunday, Twitter flagged a tweet by Trump in which he claimed he had fully recovered from the coronavirus, saying it violated the social media platform’s rules about misleading information related to the flu-like pathogen.

“A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know,” Trump said in the tweet.

The post was flagged by Twitter with a disclaimer.

“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” Twitter’s disclaimer read, adding that it had determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible.

A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2020

In an interview with Reuters, a Twitter spokeswoman said the tweet made “misleading health claims” about the deadly virus and that engagements with the post would be “significantly limited,” as is standard in such cases.

There is no scientific evidence as to how long people who have recovered from the disease have antibodies and are protected from a second infection.

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Since the virus erupted in the US in February, Trump has been under fire for his handling of the pandemic, which has so far infected nearly 7.7 million people in the United States and killed more than 214,000.

The Trump administration has faced criticism for its lax approach to mask-wearing and social distancing in the White House, with at least 11 presidential aides and associated having tested positive for the coronavirus.

The United States is reporting on average 48,000 new cases a day and the number of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus hit a record for a sixth day in a row in the Midwest on Saturday, according to a Reuters analysis.

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