this is bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: president donald trump has been taken to hospital for treatment after being diagnosed with coronavirus. he left the white house unaided, wearing a mask. on twitter he said he was "doing well". lam going i am going to walter reed hospital, i think i am doing very well, but we are going to make sure that things work out, the first lady is doing very well. so thank you very much, i appreciated, i will never forget it, thank you. he's already been treated with an "antibody cocktail" and vitamins. his doctors earlier said he was fatigued but in good spirits. we'll look at the possible health risks the president is facing.

hello and welcome to bbc news. donald trump has been taken to the walter reed medical hospital as a "precaution", less than 2a hours after testing positive for coronavirus. his physician said he was feeling "fatigued but in good spirits" and is expected to spend "the next few days" there. mark lobel reports. a moment he chose to wear a mask. the walk he never wanted to make. caught up in the coronavirus pandemic, he predicted would go away. a poorly president flown to hospital as the world watched on taking in the gravity of this moment. before taking off, the president tweeted a video intended to reassure.” the president tweeted a video intended to reassure. i want to thank everybody for the

tremendous support, i am going to walter reed hospital, i think i am doing very well, but we are going to make sure that things work out. there was an emotional tweet from his son eric. his father, he says, is a true warrior who will fight through this with the same strength and conviction that he uses strength and conviction that he uses to fight for america each and every day. he asks everyone tojoin him in praying for his father's recovery. arriving at the hospital, a confident walk and salute for his convoy took him away. earlier, his chief of staff gave this update. the president and the first lady tested positive for covid—i9, they remain in good spirits, they remain in good spirits, the president does have mild symptoms. then the news donald trump had taken this experimental antibody treatment. leaving questions about how serious his condition really is. it is hard to reconcile the fact that we are

told he is doing very well, and he is getting aggressive treatments that the regular person would not getting. joe biden has pulled any negative election ads from appearing, insisting this must not be a partisan moment. but he reiterated his call for eve ryo ne reiterated his call for everyone to wear masks, in a not unsubtle rebuke of the president. it is a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. it is not going away automatically. we have to do oui’ automatically. we have to do our part to be responsible. it means following the science. donald trump is now in the executive suite here, fit for a president. he retains the powers of the presidency, but his plans to convalesce at the white house have suddenly changed. his medical condition will now dictate if the head of the world's most powerful country can keep his desk, or whether there is another dramatic twist ahead.

i'm joined now by barbara plett usher. she is outside the hospital. barbara, a helicopter landed, you saw it land, he got out and walked, he wore a mask, what happens now? well, james, he has settled into the medical executive treatment unit, that isa executive treatment unit, that is a special unit for vips, presidents in this case, which is pretty self—contained, we are told it has a dedicated doctor, nurse and technician team, trained to shift away from normal hospital work to look after the president when he comes, he has everything he needs there to continue working which is what the house says he will do. —— white house. it has an office space, a kitchen and dining room, it has space for secret service, it has its own intensive care unit, so it is everything that he needs to be

monitored as the white house said he was going to be for tests, and anything should take a turn for the worse he will get the best treatment available. so the white house has made a point of saying that he is not handing over control to the vice president, that he is not bowing out for the moment, he is very much able to continue running the country, he is just continue running the country, he isjust going continue running the country, he is just going to continue running the country, he isjust going to be doing it from the hospital, but certainly this chaotic day has left people kind of wondering what is going to happen, because from the moment we heard that he had tested positive for covid to now, at this point in hospital, has really moved much faster than we expect that it would, and we are still going to be making sense of it over the next few days. i am amazed to hear there isa dining days. i am amazed to hear there is a dining room in that secure unit. from what we can tell, barbara, is his plan, if he is well enough, to continue

working, to send out tweets and comment on world affairs, to continue campaigning? well, james, we will have to wait and see what it means, that he will continue working. that is what he does, he is going, we were told today that he had been taking calls on the residence and doing business as usual, he is campaigning, so he may continue some sort of virtual campaign element he did not tweet for 15 hours, which was really quite something, but as he landed here, as he landed at walter reed, he issued a tweet, that a video that i think you played, saying that he felt all right but he just wanted to make sure everything worked out so make sure everything worked out so this is where he was. so presumably he will be tweeting as he is here as well. he will not be doing in person events, that we are sure of, and in fa ct that we are sure of, and in fact he was doing them for a large amount of last week, so it is not just large amount of last week, so it is notjust a question of the president, actually, although that is the one

eve ryo ne although that is the one everyone is focusing on, there is obviously a domino effect given all the people he has beenin given all the people he has been in contact with, he had a ceremony at the white house on saturday for his judicial appointment for the nominee for the supreme court, he had i think been in rallies in three different states, he was at the debate, then of course there are white house officials around him, journalists, the press corps, it has been announced that three of them have tested positive for covid, there is a lot of contract tracing going on and perhaps more illnesses related to the president's travels this week. —— contact tracing. dr dena grayson is a physician and expert on viral diseases. she joins us from florida. doctor grayson, we have seen president trump go from a helicopter, we have seen a 13 second video, which we got to see what he looks like at the moment, and we have seen two state m e nts moment, and we have seen two statements from his positions. this is a jigsaw puzzle than for you to try and work out,

how is he? clearly the president's condition is much worse than the white house has let on. you do not hospitalise patients that have only mild symptoms, and in factjust a few moments ago one of the us media reported that actually one of the white house sources reveal that mr trump indeed was starting to experience some shortness of breath which is a sign that his condition may be deteriorating, so it is pretty clear that he was hospitalised, right now he has what we call moderate symptoms, but he was hospitalised because his condition can change very quickly. we, the non-medical experts, have made an awful lot of the walks that he has done unassisted to and from helicopter, you as a physician, is that important, or is that simply irrelevant when you look ata simply irrelevant when you look at a respiratory illness? it is important, it certainly says he was able to walk at least, you know, a few feet, but again,

this is a person who is in his mid— 70s, he is obese and he is a man, and so he has a lot of risk factors. he has already been treated with an experimental treatment that is not proven, again it is very concerning that he is experiencing some shortness of breath. he did not stop to speak to the press, which i think was very notable, both before he ordered the helicopter and after he got off the helicopter, usually enjoys interacting with the media. and also the fact that he was medivac‘d, taken by helicopter not by car to walter reed hospital, we should be encouraged that he was able to walk on his own strength to the helicopter, but then he got into a helicopter, but then he got intoa carto helicopter, but then he got into a car to gojust a helicopter, but then he got into a car to go just a few, a couple of metres to the hospital once he landed, which was also a worrisome sign. but just to pick you up on some of the non—medical points you dismayed, our correspondence in washington have pointed out that presidents do tend to make

short journeys by that presidents do tend to make shortjourneys by helicopter, even when they are well, and it is entirely standard black this simply to get out and get into —— practice, and it is standard practice to get out into one of those a—wheel—drives. i want to focus on a statement made by the president's position, in which he said sentence non—medical people find difficult to understand, he said following pcr confirmation, the president's diagnosis, as a precautionary measure he received a single eightg measure he received a single eight g dose of an antibody cocktail, to lay people, what does that mean? what he got was an experimental treatment, this isa an experimental treatment, this is a cocktail of two antibodies that are manufactured in the lab, so think about it as a sort of manufactured version if you will of convalescent plasma. this is unproven therapy, it is still being tested in clinical trials, again it is not something you would do and somebody who is mildly ill. it was given to him

under what is called compassionate use protocols, which is generally reserved for patients who are extremely ill, severely ill, it does not appear that mr severely ill, it does not appearthat mrtrump fortu nately appearthat mrtrump fortunately is severely ill, but it is a very worrisome sign that he was hospitalised and that he was hospitalised and that he was hospitalised and that he even received this experimental treatment. he clearly has symptoms that are more severe than just mild symptoms. why would a president be given unproven treatment?” think that his doctors are very concerned about his health. what that suggests is, look, normally patients don't get hospitalised until about an average of no more than a week after onset of symptoms. mr trump began experiencing symptoms as far as we can tell, maybe wednesday night into thursday morning, so the fact that he has been hospitalised two days later at most is certainly worrisome. it suggests that his situation is starting to go downhill, and then the doctors are very, very concerned, so that they are

starting to reach for things to say, what can we do, this is the president of the united states, so again it does suggest that there are some very worrisome signs such as potentially shortness of breath which was reported just recently by the us media. but of course there is another way of course there is another way of looking at it, the president is neither you nor me, potentially the president would go into hospital much earlier than you or i would simply because there are facilities there, and we don't always take there, and we don't always take the white house added word, we are very sceptical about what the white house, this one on previous white houses have said, but perhaps we do take them at their word when they say that this was simply an abundance of caution? yeah, i don't think that is the case here. i think what is very likely is that mr trump himself reportedly started getting pretty anxious about how he was feeling, he is experiencing fever and reportedly shortness of breath along with some other mild symptoms, so they claim, but again mrtrump mild symptoms, so they claim, but again mr trump has 24—hour,

24/7 ca re but again mr trump has 24—hour, 24/7 care with the white house position in the white house. and just yesterday, the white house said that he was going to recuperate at home, you know, in the white house residence. that was 18 hours ago, and now he is being rushed to hospital. this is not a good sign for his health. i think this certainly was done may be at nab and —— out of an abundance of caution and also suggest that u nfortu nately and also suggest that unfortunately his condition was starting to deteriorate. it is worth for our view isjust putting the chronology into context, personable president trump said he contracted the virus, the first statement from the doctor said that they were both well at the time, they plan to stay at home at the white house, then there was a second statement talking about the number of cocktail of drugs and now he has at walter reed. what kind of treatment, what kind of access does he have at walter reed, assembly the president can get any expert, any drug, anywhere? certainly thatis any drug, anywhere? certainly that is the case. first of all he would just get the standard

treatment of anybody who is a covid—19 patient, they will be monitoring very closely his oxygen levels through pulse oximetry, that can easily be done at the white house, looking at the ability of his blood to carry oxygen. if needed he would receive oxygen therapy, whether by his nose or bya therapy, whether by his nose or by a mask, and there is an icu in the presidential facilities at walter reed, so if his condition unfortunately did happen to deteriorate, he could be intubated happen to deteriorate, he could be intu bated and happen to deteriorate, he could be intubated and placed on a —— ona be intubated and placed on a —— on a ventilator very quickly. i think that is why they moved him there. in addition if his condition does continue to go downhill, i would condition does continue to go downhill, iwould not condition does continue to go downhill, i would not be surprised if president trump received a drug called remdesivir, which is an antiviral treatment which has received emergency clearance by the fda to treat covid—19.

where does this leave the re—election campaign? let's speak to matt mackowiak, a republican strategist and communications consultant. thank you forjoining us and i do not know if you heard that medical conversation but we will put it aside and talk about politics. where does all of this leave the presidential campaign? yeah, i think there area campaign? yeah, i think there are a couple of short term consequences of this news today. we have to talk about this is obviously going to sideline the president of the united states, the republican nominee for president, for the next ten or 14 days. take him off the canteen prowl and prevent him from going to the event —— campaign trail. i think the campaign and the white house are looking at virtual events and other ways to reach the public but whatever it ends up being it will be far more remote and it would otherwise. in the last week we saw how many states and events he travelled to and how he likes to talk to the present those things will be really probably not possible over the

next week so i think that is the first consequence and the second is the debate, the second is the debate, the second residential debate, we have a price presidential debate next week and then the president debate the week after that i think is up in the air. the president is not fully recovered with several negative tests, i do think the debate could go forward and it is possibly could be held virtually postponed.” possibly could be held virtually postponed. i think thatis virtually postponed. i think that is consequential. the third thing is that this brings covid back into the news. right. it brings questions about the white house protocol and about the federal government's response to covert. the president of the united states cannot contract this virus than anyone can. we have been told for a long time that anyone who comes into contact with it is tested beforehand but that obviously was insufficient in this case. and so i do think you will hear the white house started to communicate differently about covert. may be more strong in their language about using masks and following public health guidelines and i think trump's base is now going to be more receptive to those kinds of m essa g es more receptive to those kinds of messages given that they now see the president has contracted this virus. do you

really think this will change behaviour in red states among from supporters? i think it will and the reason i say that is for some percentage of the country, they have felt like covid was something that happens in big cities and suburbs but not in their neighbourhood or in the community and in rural parts of this country, there are some areas that have not really been areas that have not really been a factor that have not had outbreaks where people do not know anyone who has contracted the virus. it changes. if trump has a strong base of 40% of the country and he now has covid, unquestionably that is a wake—up call for that population. so i do think you will start to see even greater a cce pta nce will start to see even greater acceptance of this public health guidelines, at least in the short—term, and also i think there will be focused on treatments, this experiment or treatments, this experiment or treatments that the president is receiving i think will get a lot of scrutiny and attention over the next few weeks and i think that is probably a good thing. he is a local presidency like to have the initiative and we saw how much he liked to have the initiative when the supreme courtjustice was named the other day. it is really

ha rd to have the other day. it is really hard to have the initiative when you are in the secure unit ofa when you are in the secure unit of a hospital, isn't it? yeah, he is obviously going to be limited in what he can do and it is going to have to really settle on surrogates, the vice president is going to have to do more, perhaps of hunger trump orjared kushner who both tested negative are going to have to be more senior, trump campaign officials are going to have to do more. this is an unprecedented situation and i cannot think of a situation where a presidential campaign is taken off the trail by very serious healthcare in the final month of a presidential campaign. i have —— there have been national crises and the economic disaster in 2008 when wall st fell but, you know, when the markets crushed but i cannot remember a healthcare like this that really sideline someone like this that really sideline someone and certainly not in the middle of a pandemic so we are in uncharted territory here. thank you so much, matt. let's speak now to someone who was at the first presidential debate in cleveland, ohio. councilman on cleveland city council basheerjones was one of the 60 people allowed

into the debate room. hejoins us now. thank you so much forjoining us. we saw and we we re much forjoining us. we saw and we were watching on tv pictures of some of the members of the trumpfamily of some of the members of the trump family without masks. did you notice that at the time? definitely. thank you again for inviting me here. i sat in the audience, and you could clearly tell who was a trump supporter and who was not because those who were with the trump family, president trump's family and supporters, they, no to how many times doctors came and tried to bring them masks, they co nsta ntly tried to bring them masks, they constantly shoot them away and said that they would rather not. we don't know exactly when or where president trump caught the virus. but you were there in that arena when he was speaking and indeed shouting,

along with vice president biden. are you considering being tested? well, you know, one thing about cleveland clinic, and that is where the debate was held, at every checkpoint, they made sure that we we re checkpoint, they made sure that we were tested, that our temperature was down, you could not look anywhere and be anywhere without being co nsta ntly anywhere without being constantly tested so we are waiting on cleveland clinic, as they do their own in house, in house focuses, just to make sure that those who came a safe and healthy but i'm not concerned. we stayed away from from supporters anyway. but thatis from supporters anyway. but that is interesting but even given the fact that you were in the arena together and you did not know that mr trump may have had the virus at this stage, we do not tempted to engage with the other side and talk to them? or not? well, no. it

wasn't that type of party. right. you had to come in and sit in your seat and there was not really a lot of engaging that took place. unfortunately, here in america right now, we are very polarised. from supporters are not really engaging with biden supporters. and that is an issue because we can learn from one another. but that being said, even though i ama that being said, even though i am ajoe that being said, even though i am a joe biden supporter, that being said, even though i am ajoe biden supporter, i truly hope that president trump and his wife recover well. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. let's get more on this from julia manchester, political reporter for the hill. julia, thank you forjoining us. julia, thank you forjoining us. i think it is almost 40 yea rs us. i think it is almost 40 years since the reagan assassination, not just years since the reagan assassination, notjust america but the world has been following a president's health this closely. yeah, it's been definitely quite a long time andi

definitely quite a long time and i think just definitely quite a long time and i thinkjust the severity of the situation was really showing us, we were watching those images of donald trump walking out of the white house toward the helicopter on his way to walter reed medical centre in marilyn, it shows how closely invested we are in this and really the shockwaves that have been sent through washington and beyond today —— maryland. the leader of one of the most powerful countries of the most powerful countries of the world has coronavirus and there are a lot of questions now about how much we can believe about the messaging coming out of the white house. the white house says that president trump is doing well and has mild symptoms of a fever right now but however i would say it is pretty remarkable that he is going to the hospital to be monitored for a few nights. it is interesting in the very rapid few hours that everyone has had, and a few hours ago people we re had, and a few hours ago people were talking about the potential application of the 25th amendment, the president has power to a vice president. has some of that speculation died away now that we have seen the president walking unaided

to and from the helicopter?” think that shot you saw of the president walking unaided in a mask and, you know, to the helicopter on his own definitely was meant to boost confidence, not only in the press corps but in those sending other messages but also among the american people. so i think it is too early to stop speculating about the 25th amendment right now and i think it is because we just do not know how the virus is going to impact president trump. president trump is a high risk at 74 years old and medically overweight. however this virus appears to hit people differently, and some people appears asymptomatic and have very mild orfew appears asymptomatic and have very mild or few symptoms and other people such as the uk prime minister boris johnson, you know, started off with a mild symptoms and then ended up in the intensive care unit so it is simply too soon to tell right now so i would rise the situation as an hour by hour situation as an hour by hour situation or event we are watching. looking back through recent history, what houses is

not always been candid about presidential health. wilson with the stroke in 1919, fdr with the stroke in 1919, fdr with heart disease, john f. kennedy with addison's. americans come to expect com plete americans come to expect complete honesty from their white house about their president's health? do. there is definitely more of a need for transparency and i think with that comes with, you know, more immediate media that has been put out from the white house into the white house, the press corps simply bigger, we have social media, but i would say with the coronavirus in particular, this is different from those past examples you mentioned because this is a disease that has impacted thousands of americans. you know, with a death toll, you know, with a death toll, you know, thousands here in the united states and so many americans have courted or have been economically impact of so when they see the president becoming a symptom, a symbol in a, you know, essentially a part of the data coming out of the united states, that is a big

deal and americans want to see how he is being treated and how, you know, if he is impacted by the coronavirus, what he is doing to further combat the spread of this country. we had that here in the uk in april. just very, very briefly, in a couple of sentences, what kind of presidential campaign can we now expect? i think we're going to see for the next couple of weeks more virtual campaigns, it will be toned down, you know, president trump obviously cannot go out in person and vice president biden has taken down a lot of negative ads so it will be toned down but we will be watching for next week's vice presidential debate. julia, thank you so much. just to repeat our menus, president trump has now been transferred to the walter reed hospital, you can see a live shot there of the hospital we understand he has been transferred to a secure unit there —— our main news. not to there —— our main news. not to the emergency area but to an area in which he will be secure

in which he will of course have any treatment that he might need. to stay with us on bbc news. —— do stay with us on bbc news. hello there. scotland, northern ireland didn't fare too badly on friday with some good spells of sunshine around, some pleasant sunset scenes as well. but for england and wales, it really was pretty atrocious. wet and windy — all courtesy of storm alex — and it looks like all areas willjoin in with the heavy rain this weekend, including scotland and northern ireland. could cause some transport disruption, some flooding in places, and the winds will be quite a feature too. so for saturday, it looks thoroughly wet to start the day across much of england and wales, eastern scotland, that rain also drifting a little bit further westwards at times. but meanwhile, it will be clearing a little bit from the south—east, so here, we could see some brightness into the afternoon, but it stays windy. south wales into south—west england, those temperatures pretty disappointing — the low teens for most of us, could see 16 in the south—east — but it's the rainfall amounts we are most concerned about this weekend.

saturday into sunday morning, amber warnings issued for parts of wales, the south—west of england and also for the east and north—east of scotland. areas here, certainly over the high ground, could see an excess of two inches of rain, so flooding is likely to be an issue here. as we move through saturday night then, that rain really piles its way westwards, affecting northern ireland as well. winds will be quite strong across the south—west. temperatures a little bit lower than what we had for the previous night — it will clear about 9—10 degrees. —— typically about 9—10 degrees. now, this new area of low pressure will be sitting right across the uk as we head on into part two of the weekend. it will be sending bands of cloud and rain around the country, mainly around its periphery, where we will also see the strongest of the winds — gale force winds at times here — but in the centre of it, winds not quite as strong. we should see some sunshine and that will set off a few heavy, maybe thundery showers. again, those temperatures pretty disappointing —

in the low teens for most. as we move out of sunday into monday, our area of low pressure begins to fill somewhat, begins to weaken a little bit, but it is still going to be enough to generate showers or longer spells of rain, certainly around the edges. fairly strong winds, too. those winds will continue to ease down. central areas will see the lightest of winds with sunny spells there monday afternoon, but that could set off some heavy, maybe thundershowers again. temperatures again low teens for most, but we could make 15 or 16 in the south—east, given some sunshine and lights winds. but it remains unsettled as we have through the new week, certainly for england and wales, with a high chance of heavy showers and sunny spells.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has been admitted to the walter reed military hospital in washington to undergo medical tests, as a precautionary measure after having contracted coronavirus. earlier, the president's doctor released a statement saying mr trump was "fatigued but in good spirits" and he was expected to continue to work. president trump has been receiving an experimental drug to treat his coronavirus infection. it is a synthetic "antibody cocktail" which has not yet been tested on a large scale. early results from a small trial showed a decline in virus levels after patients had been given a high dose of the drug. mr trump's democratic challenger, joe biden, has twice tested negative for the virus following tuesday's debate. he's continued his campaign with a speech in michigan. he announced he would temporarily withdraw negative adverts regarding president trump due to his health. now on bbc news, click.