Joe Biden Tests Positive For COVID-19, To Self-isolate

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 during his campaign trail in Las Vegas and has mild symptoms, the White House said in a statement.

It added that he will self-isolate in Delaware from where he will continue to carry out all of his duties fully.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the positive test for the US President after Biden cancelled a speech due to the diagnosis. “He is vaccinated and boosted and experiencing mild symptoms,” she said.

“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” the press secretary added.

The diagnosis came hours after the release of comments by Biden in an interview conducted on Tuesday, in which he said he could step aside as a presidential candidate “if I had some medical condition that emerged.”

Biden’s doctor said he was suffering from a runny nose and a “non-productive cough” along with “general malaise,” the White House said in an accompanying note.

He has received the Covid drug Paxlovid and has already taken his first dose, the statement read. “His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97 percent,” it added.