US President Donald Trump said he was "medication free" and revealed more details of his fight with COVID-19 in a televised interview aired Friday, one week after he was hospitalised with the virus.
The president appeared on Fox's Tucker Carlson Tonight for what the White House described as an on-air "medical evaluation" conducted remotely by Fox contributor doctor Marc Siegel.
"Right now I'm medication-free, I'm not taking any medications as of, you know, probably eight hours ago," Mr Trump told Siegel.
It was unclear when the interview, which Carlson said was filmed by a White House camera crew, was taped.
Mr Trump's doctors had previously said they have given him an aggressive cocktail of therapeutic drugs including the steroid dexamethasone, usually associated with serious COVID-19 cases.
Mr Trump also said he had been tested again for the virus.
"I have been retested and I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet but I've been retested, and I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free," he said.
He said he did not know when his next test would be, adding that it was "probably tomorrow... they test every couple of days."
Mr Trump said the virus had sapped his energy levels, adding he "didn't feel very vital".
He also said he "didn't have a problem with breathing". His doctors have said he was put on supplemental oxygen at least twice, and the president later said that lung tests had shown "some congestion in there".
Mr Trump said he did not know where he had contracted the virus, adding: "It's highly contagious. That's one thing you learn, this is a contagious disease."
It comes as the Commission on Presidential Debates has cancelled next week's showdown between Mr Trump and his challenger Joe Biden, after the president said he would not participate in a virtual format.
The second debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has been cancelled. Source: AP
"Each (candidate) now has announced alternate plans for that date," the commission said in a statement on Friday, adding "it is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15."
The move leaves just one more debate on the schedule - 22 October in Nashville, Tennessee - before the 3 November election.
Debates have been a feature of every US presidential election since 1976, with three debates near the end of a campaign the standard since 2000.
The commission had announced Thursday it was converting the 15 October town hall debate to a virtual affair out of an abundance of caution because Mr Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus.
But the president, who has been eager to return to the campaign trail and hold live events, refused to participate in the virtual format and sought unsuccessfully to return it to an in-person debate.
Mr Biden had said earlier this week he would not debate Mr Trump in person if he still had the virus, and his campaign called Mr Trump's refusal to adapt to a virtual format "shameful."
"It's shameful that Donald Trump ducked the only debate in which the voters get to ask the questions - but it's no surprise," Mr Biden's spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Mr Trump "doesn't have the guts to answer for his record to voters at the same time as vice president Biden."
The US president meanwhile plans to hold his first live event at the White House since being diagnosed with COVID-19.
All attendees will be told to wear masks they must bring, and will have to submit to a COVID-19 screening (Saturday) morning. This will consist of a temperature check and a brief questionnaire, according to a source familiar with the preparations.
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