Dr Hilary Jones slams Donald Trump for saying he wants to kiss supporters after Covid-19 diagnosis

Dr Hilary Jones has criticised Donald Trump for suggesting he would "kiss everyone" at a rally for the US President just days after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Mr Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting coronavirus into an emphatic defence of his handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 215,000 people in the US alone, joking he felt healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters “a big fat kiss” .

The 74-year-old declared he was no longer contagious and thanked the thousands of well-wishers gathered in Florida, most of whom were not wearing face masks, for their support as he began the final stretch of his election campaign as the US readies to vote in its upcoming November 3 presidential poll.

"I feel so powerful," he said. “I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women ... everybody. I'll just give ya a big fat kiss."

The president insisted that he felt great after being given experimental medication and treatment and said he was glad he no longer needs to be concerned about infection because he's now "immune."

But reacting to Mr Trump's comments, Dr Jones on Tuesday told ITV's Good Morning Britain show the US leader's approach was "worrying".

Asked about the extent to which Mr Trump has recovered from his Covid-19 infection, Dr Jones replied: "Who knows? He’s out on the trail there, he’s obviously recovered from the acute symptoms he reportedly had."

"He’s tested negative apparently, he’s rallying and he’s attempting to go out and kiss all his supporters which is quite worrying," he added.

"I don’t think he can be listening to his medical advisors at all … he clearly isn’t listening."

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan then turned on Mr Trump too, suggesting the latter "doesn't care" about the pandemic.

"‘He doesn’t wear masks, he thinks he’s immune, he doesn’t care… it’s just incredibly reckless," Mr Morgan said.

As Trump was holding his rally on Monday, top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told CNBC the United States faced a “whole lot of trouble” if it did not encourage universal wearing of face masks and avoid mass gatherings.

Dr Fauci also questioned the wisdom of holding the event in Florida, noting test positivity rates were climbing in parts of the US' southeast and southwest.

“We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that,” he said.

Mr Fauci also warned that although people who recovered from Covid-19 were likely to be immune for a limited period of time, there are cases emerging of people being re-infected weeks or months later.

Critics have repeatedly faulted Mr Trump for failing to adequately grapple with the coronavirus pandemic and encourage supporters at campaign events, as well as White House staff, to wear protective masks and abide by social-distancing guidelines.

At least 11 close aides of the US president have tested positive for Covid-19 since the latter was admitted to hospital battling the virus a week ago.

Mr Trump’s rally came hours after the White House said he had tested negative for coronavirus on consecutive days and was not infectious to others.

They were the US president’s first negative Covid-19 tests announced by the White House since Mr Trump said on October 2 that he had contracted the virus.

In a memo, Mr Trump's personal physician Dr Sean Conley did not say when the tests were conducted but that they and other clinical and laboratory data “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication".

Still, Mr Trump’s decision to so quickly return to the campaign trail drew criticism from Democratic challenger for the White House Joe Biden and other opposition politicans.

“President Trump comes to Sanford today bringing nothing but reckless behaviour, divisive rhetoric, and fear mongering,” Mr Biden said in a statement.

“But, equally dangerous is what he fails to bring: no plan to get this virus that has taken the lives of over 15,000 Floridians under control.”

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