Biden's COVID Symptoms Have Improved Significantly

US President Joe Biden's condition has improved significantly since contracting COVID-19 and his biggest symptom now is a sore throat, his doctor said on Sunday.

Biden's cough and body aches have subsided and he has not experienced any shortness of breath since testing positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, his doctor, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, said in a memo released by the White House. "His symptoms continue to improve significantly. His dominant symptom right now is a sore throat. This is most likely a result of lymphoid activation as his body clears the virus and is therefore encouraging," he said. Biden's pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature were normal. "His voice continues to sound a little deep," O'Connor said. Earlier Sunday, White House COVID coordinator Ashish Jha said in interviews on "Fox News Sunday" and ABC's "This Week" that none of Biden's 17 identified close contacts have tested positive for coronavirus so far. Biden, 79, has shown mild symptoms since the diagnosis, which came as a highly contagious sub-variant of the coronavirus sparked a new wave of cases in the United States. On Saturday, O'Connor said genomic sequencing had found that the sub-variant, known as BA.5, was likely the cause of Biden's illness. Jha told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that Biden had an upper respiratory infection. The White House has sought to underscore Biden's ability to work through his illness. On Thursday, he released a video reassuring Americans that he was fine, and on Friday he participated in virtual meetings with White House staff. The President had no public events over the weekend and travel plans from earlier this week were canceled. Biden's diagnosis comes at a time when his presidency faces political and economic challenges, with high inflation and a threatened policy agenda on Capitol Hill hurting his approval rating with voters who will decide at the polls in November whether Republicans or Democrats will control Congress. Biden's Democrats currently hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives and control the evenly divided Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote.