Trump says he wants to give everyone at rally a 'big fat kiss' now he's 'immune' from coronavirus

Donald Trump has said he feels “so powerful” after recovering from coronavirus and that he was healthy enough to give everyone at his campaign rally a “big fat kiss”.

The US leader used his first public event since contracting Covid-19 to defend his handling of the pandemic, which has killed 215,000 Americans.

He declared he was no longer contagious and thanked well-wishers for their support as he began the final stretch of his election campaign in Florida on Monday.

"I feel so powerful," said Mr Trump. “I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women ... everybody. I'll just give ya a big fat kiss."

The president insisted that, after being given experimental medication and treatment, he felt great and was glad he no longer needs to be concerned about infection because he's now "immune."

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, said those who recover from Covid are likely to be immune for a limited period of time. However, there are cases emerging of people getting reinfected weeks or months later.

At the rally Mr Trump returned to his many usual attack lines, slamming Democrats as "engaged and unhinged and out for vengeance," and hyping "tremendous progress" on virus therapeutics.

He promised the third-quarter economy would be "record-setting" and claimed that, if he wins in November, "normal life" will resume, while his Democratic rival Joe Biden would delay the vaccine and destroy the economy with a "draconian" lockdown.

"Under my leadership, we're delivering a safe vaccine and a rapid recovery like no one can even believe," Mr Trump insisted.

"If you look at our upward path, no country in the world has recovered the way we have recovered."

When he finished talking, with his new exit song, The Village People's "YMCA," blaring over the loudspeakers, the president pumped his fists as the crowd roared.

With three weeks to go before the election, Mr Trump is pushing to correct a stubborn deficit in national and battleground state polling.

That includes in Florida, which is seen as crucial to his re-election chances.

Mr Trump narrowly beat his 2016 rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in the state by just over 112,000 votes.

Some recent polls have suggested a close race in the state, while others have put Democrat Mr Biden ahead.

Mr Trump's Sanford rally was his first stop in a busy week that will include events in Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

After Air Force One lifted off to take the president to the rally, his doctor released an update on his health - confirming Mr Trump had tested negative for the virus on consecutive days.

For days, the White House had sidestepped questions about whether Mr Trump had tested negative.

His doctor over the weekend said that the president met Centres for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognised standards," Mr Trump was no longer considered a transmission risk.

It was unclear what — if any — added precautions and safety measures the campaign planned to take to prevent the trip from further spreading a virus that has already infected so many of the president's closest aides and allies, including his campaign manager and the head of the Republican Party.

Mr Trump's decision to so quickly return to the campaign trail drew criticism from Mr Biden and other Democrats.

"President Trump comes to Sanford today bringing nothing but reckless behaviour, divisive rhetoric, and fear mongering," Mr Biden said in a statement.

"But, equally dangerous is what he fails to bring: no plan to get this virus that has taken the lives of over 15,000 Floridians under control."

Mr Trump continued to mock Mr Biden for his efforts to encourage social distancing at his campaign events, deriding as "crazy" the circles Mr Biden's campaign uses to delineate individual space.

"He's got a lot of bad days coming," Mr Trump said at another point.

Since his release from a military hospital after three days of around-the-clock care that included access to experimental antibody treatments unavailable to the public, Mr Trump has used his personal experience to try to convince the public that he was right all along.

He has repeatedly told Americans who contract the virus that they're "going to get better really fast," although hundreds of people in the US die of the virus every day.