President Donald Trump takes off his face mask as he poses on the Truman Balcony of the White House after returning from Walter Reed Hospital to treat Covid-19 in Washington, United States, on October 5, 2020.
Erin Scott | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump was more ill with the coronavirus in October than the public said at the time, a new report said.
Trump had “at one point extremely low blood oxygen levels and a lung problem related to coronavirus-related pneumonia,” reported the New York Times, citing four people familiar with his condition after contracting Covid-19.
His condition was so poor that “officials believed he was on a ventilator” before he was taken from the White House to the Walter Reed National Military Center.
The Times noted that when Trump went to the hospital in early October – a month before the presidential election – his medical team tried to downplay the severity of his condition in comments to the public.
Trump left the hospital three days after experimental treatments.
He had attended a personal debate with then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden just two days before Covid was announced.
Biden beat Trump in the election that came after Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic for months.
Read the full New York Times story here.