BBC
President Trump is treated with the steroid dexamethasone after oxygen level drops on Friday and Saturday, his doctor says.
But he is said to be doing well and could be discharged back to the White House on Monday.
Dr Sean Conley admits Mr Trump was treated with supplementary oxygen, after refusing to confirm a day earlier.
US First Lady Melania Trump is among a growing group of people around Mr Trump who also have the virus – she is recuperating at the White House.
At least seven people who attended a White House event last week, including the Trumps, have now tested positive.
Trump (74) has been criticised for playing down severity of virus and often spurning masks and social distancing.
Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was revealed to be the anonymous source who told reporters on Saturday the president’s vital signs over the previous 24 hours had been “very concerning” and that the next 48 hours would be critical.
On Sunday Dr Sean Conley said Meadows’s statement had been “misconstrued”.
A photograph taken today during Conley’s press conference shows the chief of staff sitting with his head in his hands outside the Walter Reed Medical Center.
When Trump first revealed he had Covid-19, Joe Biden – Trump’s opponent in next month’s presidential election – said he would suspend all negative campaigning.
However, he hasn’t suspended campaigning altogether. For example, in this tweet he reminds voters that there are now only 30 days to go until polling day.
Since Trump’s diagnosis Biden’s poll lead has widened by about 10 points, according to a poll from Reuters and Ipsos released today.
The same poll suggests most American voters think Trump could have avoided getting Covid-19 if he had taken the virus more seriously.
The president likes to speak directly to the public and has often kept his own spokespeople out of the loop. His days at hospital have been particularly challenging for those who work for him.
The conflicting messages showed the problems inherent for Team Trump. They have not provided regular, transparent updates about his health in part because there has never been a coherent method of communicating the president’s messages.
On Saturday White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows revealed that Trump’s condition a day earlier was far worse than officials had made public. This was revealing on different levels. Journalists frequently grant permission to officials to speak off the record to obtain information.
On this occasion, however, their exchange was inadvertently captured on camera: it was a “Washington Gaffe”, a term coined by journalist Michael Kinsley to describe the moment when a politician expresses candidly what they and others think but do not say out loud.
Meadows’ remarks showed the president’s team were not consistent in their views or in their messaging, revealing the discord and chaos unfolding behind the scenes. Above all, it showed they were deeply concerned about the president’s health.