US President Donald Trump was hospitalised Friday after learning he had the coronavirus and experiencing what aides called coughing, congestion and fever, throwing the nation’s leadership into uncertainty and destabilizing an already volatile campaign only 32 days before the election.

Trump was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being given an experimental antibody treatment as the White House rushed to cope with a commander in chief infected by a virus that has killed more than 208,000 people in the United States. Officials said he would remain in the hospital for several days and cancelled his upcoming campaign events.

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The White House shrouded Trump’s condition in secrecy, saying little more than that he had “mild symptoms,” and officials characterized the hospital stay as a precautionary measure. But the normally voluble president remained almost entirely out of public view, skipped a telephone call with governors at the last minute and uncharacteristically stayed off Twitter nearly all day while people close to the situation said his fever and other symptoms worsened as the hours wore on.

“I want to thank everybody for the tremendous support,” Trump, wearing a suit and tie but appearing unusually pale and lethargic, said in an 18-second videotaped just before getting on the Marine One helicopter. “I’m going to Walter Reed hospital. I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out.”

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The President’s illness touched off a cascade of concern, suspicion, calculation and recrimination in response to a President hospitalised with a potentially life-threatening health condition for the first time in nearly 40 years. The White House was left in a state of shock while the capital pondered what-if scenarios in case the situation worsens.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the president’s Democratic challenger, who was on a debate stage with Trump on Tuesday, was tested twice Friday, with negative results both times. Biden said he sent his prayers for a speedy recovery while also implicitly faulting the president for a casual and even reckless approach to the virus.

“This is not a matter of politics,” Biden told a labour union gathering in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while wearing a mask. “It is a bracing reminder for all of us that we must take this virus seriously. It is not going away.”