Donald Trump has said getting the coronavirus was a “blessing from God” and claims to have already been ‘cured’ in a matter of days.
In a rambling five-minute video posted on Twitter, the US President said he had taken a number of therapeutic medicines during his time at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center which left him “feeling great”.
Trum was flown to Water Reed Medical Center last Friday following a positive test that confirmed he had the deadly coronavirus. He was released just three days and said after taking pharmaceutical giant Regeneron’s experimental antibody cocktail REGN-COV2 – at his own suggestion – he felt better within 24 hours.
“I went in and I wasn’t feeling so hot and within a very short period of time they gave me Regeneron. It’s called Regeneron. And other things too, but I think this was the key. But they gave me Regeneron. And it was like unbelievable. I felt good immediately.” He says in the video.
Referring to the medications he was administered with, Trump said: “They are going to say that they are therapeutic and I guess they are therapeutic, some people don’t know how to define therapeutic.
Again pinpointing RGN-COV2, he continued: “I view it different, for me it’s a cure. I walked in, I didn’t feel good, a short 24 hours later I was feeling great – I wanted to get out of the hospital.
“And that’s what I want for everybody. I want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president because I feel great, I feel perfect.”
The President, who was not wearing a mask in the clip despite having not yet tested negative for Covid-19, said: “I think this was the blessing from God that I caught it.
“This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said let me take it, it was my suggestion…and it was incredible the way it worked.”
Trump also said ensuring Americans who are admitted to hospital with coronavirus get effective therapeutics is “more important to me than the vaccine”.
CNN reported that since the President was released from hospital, Regeneron’s stock has gone up sharply as questions persist over Trump’s ties to its billionaire CEO.
Shares of Regeneron surged 7 per cent on Monday, bringing the stock’s year-to-date gain to more than 60 per cent.
Regeneron CEO Dr Leonard Schleifer has been a member at Trump’s golf club in Westchester, New York, and his firm received $450 million in funding in July as part of the President’s Operation Warp Seed plan to quickly develop a vaccine and other treatments for Covid-19, the US news network said.
Trump’s latest video, comes after his Twitter meltdown on Tuesday in which he fired off dozens of conspiratorial tweets in a short space of time in which he cancelled talks with speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi over a multi-trillion Covid relief package.
“Immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” he said.
A wave of infections at the White House among Trump’s top lieutenants and press aides has left the West Wing struggling to find its footing. At least 19 people close to Trump have tested positive.
However, the President has been criticized by medical experts for not quarantining since arriving back at his Washington residence.
Trump has consistently depicted himself as a man who vanquished the disease and emerged stronger, telling Americans not to be afraid of Covid-19 despite the US leading the world in deaths and infections.