Trump first announced on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus.

"We will get through this TOGETHER!" he wrote.

Early Friday the White House cancelled his planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida later in the day.

Trump's official physician, Sean Conley, said in a statement that the president and his wife "are both well at this time and they plan to remain home at the White House during their convalescence."

Conley said: "I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering."

The shock news came right after one of Trump's closest advisors, Hope Hicks, on Thursday morning to have come down with the virus.

Hicks travelled with Trump to Cleveland for his first debate with Joe Biden on Tuesday. She was with him again for a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

Trump says the United States has put behind the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and he rarely wears a mask, noting that he receives frequent testing.

However, his own health experts have often given less rosy assessments of the state of the pandemic in the world's richest country.

And Trump has been sharply criticised for the large rallies where few supporters wear masks. He himself has given mixed signals to the public on the need for wearing masks at all.

eNCA/AFP