China wishes Trump well
Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai has wished the US president and his wife a quick recovery. "My best wishes to President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS for a speedy and full recovery," he tweeted.Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also expressed her sympathy: "Saddened to learn #President and the #FirstLady of the #US tested positive. Hope they both have a speedy recovery and will be fine."
New Zealand PM Ardern sends Trump best wishes
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sent her "best wishes for a speedy recovery" to Donald Trump and Melania Trump.Speaking in Auckland, she said: "I stand with others in wishing all the best because this is obviously a virus that has globally had a devastating impact."
Huge hope but limited evidence for treatments given to president
James Gallagher - Health and science correspondent, BBC NewsDonald Trump has been given two therapies that try to slow the virus’s assault on the body.
The combination of antibodies, designed by Regeneron, mimic our own immune response.
The antibodies physically stick to the coronavirus so they can’t get inside the body’s cells and they make the virus more “visible” to the rest of the immune system.
The approach makes scientific sense and there is huge hope it will be effective. However, the evidence in patients is still limited so this is considered an experimental drug.
Remdesivir works after the virus has infected one of the body’s cells. The drug disrupts the virus’s ability to make thousands of copies of itself and studies suggest this can shorten the course of an infection.
But it is unclear if either of these drugs are “life-saving”.
Covid becomes deadly when the body’s own immune system goes into overdrive and damages the body’s organs. This seems to happen in some patients around seven to 10 days into the infection.
It is at this stage that steroids, such as dexamethasone, work - and they remain the only drugs proven to save lives from Covid-19.