[reece(:]

Donald Trump has claimed he has fully recovered from Covid-19 and is now “immune” from the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans since February.

“I have to tell you, I feel fantastically. I really feel good. And I even feel good by the fact that, you know, the word immunity means something — having really a protective glow means something. I think it's very important to have that, to have that is a very important thing,” the president said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

The White House first announced Mr Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis on Thursday, 1 October.

The president is slated to make his first public appearance on the campaign trail since that diagnosis at a rally in Florida on Monday.

White House doctors have assured him he is not contagious, he said.

“The doctors, the White House doctors, as you know, are the best, and they said [I’m] totally free of spreading. There’s no spread,” Mr Trump said.

“I beat this crazy horrible China virus,” he said.

While Mr Trump said he did not know whether he would be immune from Covid-19 forever or only for a time — “no one knows,” he said — he made several misleading statements about the disease and how it affects patients who have had it.

“Once you do recover, you're immune,” Mr Trump said.

He then appeared to tout his illness and recovery from Covid-19 as a chip in his stack against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has not caught the virus.

While Mr Trump attended events throughout the summer without wearing masks or socially distancing, Mr Biden has been urging Americans to follow his example wearing them and taking all precautions outlined by the Centres for Disease Control.

“Now you have a president who doesn't have to hide in a basement like his opponent. You have a president who is immune, which is a big — I think, which is a very important thing, frankly,” Mr Trump said on Sunday.

Mr Trump has been eager to get back on the campaign trail after missing more than 10 days with his illness.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...w-b964840.html