Biden tests positive for Covid and cancels Vegas campaign event after saying he would only quit race on doctors' orders

17 July 2024, 23:33 | Updated: 18 July 2024, 09:08

Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid, forcing him to pull out of a Vegas campaign event.

Mr Biden, 81, had been due to speak at a Latino civil rights conference called UnidosUS on Wednesday, but cancelled after his positive test.

A White House official said he was experiencing mild symptoms, and had returned to his home state of Delaware to rest and self-isolate.

Mr Biden had been in Nevada, in the south-west of the country.

CEO of the group, Janet Murgui, told reporters on Wednesday: "Regrettably I was just on the phone to President Biden and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon.

"The president had been attending events as we know and he has just tested positive for Covid.

"We understand that he needs to take the precautions that have been recommended.

"He said to 'tell my folks that we are not going to get rid of him easily' and we are going to get the chance to hear from him in the future."

Several elected Democrats and prominent supporters have called for the president, 81, to stand aside in the race for the White House against Donald Trump in November, after numerous shaky performances in recent weeks.

Mr Biden has so far remained defiant amid the calls for him to quit the race - but on Wednesday dropped the biggest hint so far that he could be persuaded to relinquish the Democrat nomination.

He said in an interview with Black Entertainment Television that he could step aside "if [he] had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, the doctors came and said you’ve got this problem, that problem."

Mr Biden said that his age could be an asset to the country.

"Quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom,” he said. “And I think I’ve demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country, in spite of the fact we were told we couldn’t get it done.

"But there’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that."

The president recalled that the first time he ran for the White House, in 2020, he only intended to serve one term - but that the "divided" state of the US had made him reconsider his position.

“I made a serious mistake in the whole debate and, look, when I originally ran, you might remember it, I said I was gonna be a transitional candidate.

"I thought that I would be able to move from this, to pass it on to somebody else. But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided."

It comes as a senior Democrat congressman become the most prominent member of the party to call for Joe Biden to step down from the US presidential race on Wednesday.

Adam Schiff, the California representative who is now running for Senate, said Mr Biden should "pass the torch" to another candidate.

Mr Schiff said that he had "serious concerns" about Mr Biden's ability to win re-election this time around.

He said in a statement on Wednesday: "While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch.

"And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election."

A new poll has shown that two-thirds of Democrats believe that it is time for Mr Biden to step aside.

Possible replacements include his vice-president Kamala Harris, and California governor Gavin Newsom.

Matt Frei on Joe Biden's gaffes

Critics have long asked questions about Mr Biden's mental acuity and fitness for the highest office - some even since 2020.

But Democrats had dismissed these concerns until his shambolic debate appearance against Mr Trump in June, when he made several errors and at times was barely comprehensible.

He followed this up with several other gaffes, including referring to Ms Harris as 'vice-president Trump' and referring to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as 'president Putin' at the recent NATO summit.

Polls show Mr Biden as behind Republican Mr Trump, who suffered a near-assassination attempt at a rally on Saturday, and is appearing at his party's convention this week.