Donald Trump set to host first in-person event since Covid-19 diagnosis – live | US news

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has been released from hospital after undergoing treatment for Covid-19.

“I am happy to let you know that this morning I was released from Morristown Medical Center,” he wrote on Twitter. “I want to thank the extraordinary doctors & nurses who cared for me for the last week. Thanks to my family & friends for their prayers. I will have more to say about all of this next week.”

Christie was one of a number of senior Republicans who had been in contact with Donald Trump and subsequently tested positive for the virus. At least 22 people acrodd Donald Trump’s White House, election campaign and military leaders have tested positive for coronavirus in a flurry of recent infections.

Christie’s diagnosis was of particular concern as he is overweight and asthmatic, two categories that present risk factors for Covid-19 sufferers. He checked himself into hospital last Saturday and told CNN he was treated with remdesivir, the same anti-viral medication taken by Trump.

A federal judge has blocked a proclamation in Texas that decrees that counties can offer only one drop-off site for mail-in ballots. The order from Texas’s Republican governor Greg Abbott would force many Texans, particularly in rural counties, to undertake long journeys to vote.

Judge Robert Pitman dismissed the Texas government’s argument that its policy would prevent voter confusion and prevent election fraud.

Pitman, an Obama appointment, wrote in his decision that the current policy would result in “creating voter confusion … causing absentee voters to travel further distances … causing absentee voters to wait in longer lines … [and] causing absentee voters to risk exposure to the coronavirus when they hand deliver their absentee ballots on Election Day.”

Texas has the second-most electoral votes of any state, with only California holding more. Many believe if more Texans had easy access to voting it would be a swing state rather than a reliable Republican one.

For more on Texas’s role in November’s election, read our analysis below:

As attention is focused on Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis, there is a sobering reminder that the virus still has a hold on large parts of the United States. Johns Hopkins University figures show Friday was the third consecutive day with more than 50,000 reported news cases of Covid-19 in the United States. The last time that happened was mid-August. More than 210,000 people have now died from the virus in the United States.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Saturday. As we close in on the election, the day is likely to continue to be dominated by Donald Trump’s actions in the wake of his Covid-19 diagnosis. Here’s a quick catch-up of where we are, and a little of what we might expect to see today …