Trump seeks to put COVID-19 behind him

Donald Trump is no longer a transmission risk for COVID-19, his doctor said late on Saturday (October 10) as the U.S. president seeks to put the respiratory disease behind him and return to campaigning.

"First of all, I'm feeling great. I don't know about you. How is everyone feeling?"

Trump, who is trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in opinion polls, addressed a crowd of largely Black and Latino supporters from the White House balcony on Saturday afternoon - his first public event since his hospitalization.

"Get out and vote. We've got to vote these people into oblivion. Vote them into oblivion. Got to get rid of them."

His physician Sean Conley said in a statement after the event that Trump had taken a test on Saturday showing he was no longer a "transmission risk to others" and that there was no longer evidence of "actively replicating virus".

The White House had no immediate comment on whether Conley's statement meant Trump has actually tested negative for the coronavirus.

The president now plans to travel to the key battleground state of Florida on Monday (October 12) followed by rallies in Pennsylvania and Iowa on Tuesday (October 13) and Wednesday (October 14) respectively after an absence from the campaign trail of more than a week.

Biden was in Pennsylvania on Saturday where he urged people to vote early and pay extra attention is using mail-in ballots.

"Make sure you seal it first in the secrecy envelope and then sign the declaration on the outside of the envelope before you return it."

Opinion polls show Biden with a substantial lead nationally, although with a narrower advantage in some of the states that may decide the outcome of the November 3 election.