Top White House security official gravely ill with COVID

The head of the White House’s security is gravely ill with COVID-19 and has been hospitalised as infections continue to spread through officials.

The head of the White House security office is gravely ill with COVID-19 and has been hospitalised since September.

Crede Bailey contracted the virus before the September 26 Rose Garden event where President Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee, sources told Bloomberg.

Over a dozen attendees of that ceremony have contracted coronavirus.

Over a dozen attendees of the ceremony have tested positive. Picture: Shealah Craighead

Mr Bailey, in his role, is in charge of credentialing visitors to the White House, the report said. He also works closely on the grounds with the Secret Service.

A growing list of White House officials have also tested positive for the virus, including senior White House aide Stephen Miller and Hope Hicks and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

In addition, most of the nation’s top military leaders have been quarantining after coming in contact with a senior officer with COVID-19, according to the Pentagon.

Meanwhile Mr Trump returned to the Oval Office less than one week after he announced he tested positive for COVID-19, saying he feels “like, perfect” and that his infection was a “blessing from god”.

With speculation rife over the state of his health and when he would make his next public appearance, the President began the video in typical Trump fashion.

“Perhaps you recognise me, it’s your favourite President,” he said before praising America’s doctors and nurses. “We have great people, just a great country.”

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020

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He said that when he was taken to hospital last week he “wasn’t feeling so hot”, but that quickly changed thanks a new type of treatment.

He said an experimental antibody cocktail produced by biotech company Regeneron, that has rarely been used outside clinical trials, was a “cure” for coronavirus.

“I feel great. I feel like, perfect,” the president said in the five-minute video. “I think this was a blessing from God, that I caught it.

“This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said let me take it, it was my suggestion. I said, let me take it.

“And it was incredible the way it worked, incredible. And I think if I didn’t catch it, we’d be looking at that like a number of other drugs. But it really did a fantastic job. I want to get for you what I got. I’m going to make it free, you’re not going to pay for it.”

The White House has not publicly acknowledged or commented on Mr Bailey’s diagnosis.