Trump speaks with fellow Covid-19 sufferer, Boris Johnson

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump, who was briefly hospitalised over the weekend with Covid-19, spoke on Wednesday by phone with British premier Boris Johnson, who went into intensive care with the virus earlier this year.

"Very thankful for his friendship and support as I recovered from the China Virus," the Republican billionaire wrote on Twitter, referring to the new coronavirus in a way that has ratcheted up tensions with Beijing.

"I am looking forward to working with him for many years to come, a great guy," added the president, who trails his Democratic opponent Joe Biden by a wide margin in the polls ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

Mr Johnson, who had been slow to act in the UK at the start of the pandemic, had to spend three nights in intensive care in April after he was infected with Covid-19.

Since then, questions about the impact of the disease on his health have been recurring in Britain, where he has also been criticised for his erratic management of the health crisis.

Mr Trump, who has consistently downplayed the pandemic and has long refused to wear a mask in public, tested positive for Covid-19 last week and was hospitalised from Friday to Monday.

On Wednesday, he returned to the Oval Office despite the risk of contagion, trying to stage his return to work as he is confined to the White House and deprived of field campaigning with 27 days to go before the election.

AFP