US President Donald Trump has said he wants the next debate against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden to go ahead despite his bout of Covid-19.
In a tweet, Mr Trump said: "I am looking forward to the debate on the evening of Thursday, October 15th in Miami. It will be great!"
The debate, which will be in a town hall format with audience members putting questions to the candidates, has been thrown into doubt after Mr Trump's hospitalisation last Friday with the virus
He was discharged on Monday and declared himself today via Twitter to be "feeling great".
I am looking forward to the debate on the evening of Thursday, October 15th in Miami. It will be great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
If his health does hold up and the debate goes ahead it will mark one of the last set piece events before the 3 November election where Mr Trump has a chance to try and turn around his seeming slide to defeat.
Polls consistently show him behind Mr Biden and their first debate on 29 September, which immediately descended into an ugly shouting match, shows no sign of having improved Mr Trump's standing with voters.
A third and final debate is scheduled for 22 October in Nashville.
Tomorrow, Mr Biden's running mate Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence hold their sole debate in Utah.
Last night, Mr Trump faced a backlash for removing his mask when he returned to the White House and urged Americans not to fear Covid-19, which has killed more than 209,000 people in the country.
Mr Trump arrived at the White House in a made-for-television spectacle in which he descended from his Marine One helicopter wearing a white surgical mask, only to remove it as he posed, saluting and waving, on the mansion's South Portico.
"Don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it," Mr Trump said in a video after his return from the Walter Reed Medical Center military hospital outside Washington where he was admitted on Friday.
"I'm better, and maybe I'm immune - I don't know," he added, flanked by American flags and with the Washington Monument in the background. "Get out there. Be careful."
US President Donald Trump has left hospital and returned to the White House following his Covid-19 diagnosis. The President later issued a video message in which he speculated about whether he might now be immune to the disease | https://t.co/UX60EQUYnE pic.twitter.com/Za5qME4RjQ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 6, 2020
Mr Trump, who received experimental treatment, has repeatedly played down the disease, which has killed more than 1 million people worldwide. The United States has the world's highest death toll from the pandemic.
White House physician Dr Sean P Conley, stressed that the Republican president, who is running for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden in the 3 November election, would have world-class medical care available around the clock.
Mr Trump has repeatedly flouted social-distancing guidelines meant to curb the virus's spread and ignored his own medical advisers.
He mocked Mr Biden at last Tuesday's presidential debate for wearing a mask when campaigning.
"I was aghast when he said Covid should not be feared," said William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
"This is a disease that is killing around 1,000 people a day, has torpedoed the economy, put people out of work. This is a virus that should be both respected and feared."
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The Democrats also weighed in.
"This is a tragic failure of leadership," Democratic Senator Chris Coons tweeted.
But Mr Trump depicted himself as a man who vanquished the disease and emerged stronger.
"If the President bounces back onto the campaign trail, he will be an invincible hero, who not only survived every dirty trick the Democrats threw at him, but the Chinese virus as well," he wrote on Twitter.
"You see it in enthusiasm for the President outside Walter Reed Hospital. You see it in Registrations, from Florida to Pennsylvania & West Virginia, where Republicans are outstripping Democrats by 2 to 1. If the President bounces back onto the campaign trail, he will be an....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
....invincible hero, who not only survived every dirty trick the Democrats threw at him, but the Chinese virus as well. He will show America we no longer have to be afraid." @MirandaDevine @NYPost Thank you Miranda. Was over until the Plague came in from China. Will win anyway!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
A Twitter post by Mr Biden showed images of himself donning a mask and Mr Trump removing his. "Masks Matter. They save lives," the caption read.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said every precaution was being taken to protect the president and his family. Physical access to Mr Trump would be limited and appropriate protective equipment would be worn by those near him.
Questions continue to swirl about the true state of Mr Trump's health after a weekend in which his doctors offered contradictory or opaque assessments of his condition.
His oxygen saturation dipped enough to require supplemental oxygen on Friday and Saturday and he will receive his last intravenous dose of the antiviral drug, remdesivir, at the White House today, his doctors said.
Many aides and confidants have been diagnosed with the disease since his announcement last week that he had tested positive for it, intensifying scrutiny and criticism of the administration's handling of the pandemic.
Mr Trump has no public events listed for today and it is not clear when he will be able to resume a full schedule.
"I'm sure he'll rest the next two days. And he'll get going as soon as they say it's OK to get going," Mr Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News, adding that Mr Trump would still do light work like making phone calls.
"You never know with this disease, but it seems like he is making a very rapid recovery and a strong one. And certainly his spirit is back. He's raring to go," Mr Giuliani said.
Mr Trump continued to play down the impact of the virus and garnered rebukes from Facebook and Twitter for spreading misinformation after he tweeted that Covid-19 was less lethal than the flu.
Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
Twitter Inc responded by putting a warning label on the post, saying it included potentially misleading information. Facebook Inc removed the post for breaking its rules on Covid-19 misinformation, according to CNN.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who also tested positive for Covid-19 after a 26 September White House visit, said on Twitter that Mr Trump called him last night and said he was "feeling great and working hard".
After recent polls showed Mr Trump slipping further behind Mr Biden, early voting data indicated that nearly 4 million Americans have already cast ballots four week before election day, suggesting there may be a record turnout.
The severity of Mr Trump's illness has been the subject of intense speculation, with some experts noting that, as an overweight man aged over 70, he was in a high-risk category.
#GaspingForAir began trending on Twitter after video showed Mr Trump appearing to take several deep breaths while standing on the White House balcony.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that Mr Trump looked good when he came out of the hospital, but noted that patients sometimes have a setback five days after they get sick.
"Sometimes when you're five days in you're going to have a reversal ... It's unlikely that it will happen, but they need to be heads-up (alert) for it," Dr Fauci said.
