WASHINGTON U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters virtually on Monday that he is expecting a return of in-person work by the end of the week.

Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, said he is  "feeling great" following a virtual meeting with administration officials, as he continues to recover from the infection while isolating at the White House."I have had two full nights of sleep, all the way through," he said. "I hope I am  back to work in person by the end of this week." 

This was the first time that Biden, 79, had interacted with the press since the White House announced his COVID-19 diagnosis. Biden's symptoms for coronavirus had "now almost completely resolved," as per to the latest memo from White House Doctor Dr. Kevin O'Connor.

Fully vaccinated and twice boosted, Biden has been taking Paxlovid, an antiviral therapy produced by Pfizer and given to patients with COVID-19. He will carry on to take low-dose aspirin as "an alternative type of blood thinner," O'Connor noted in the memo.

None of Biden's 17 close contacts as regard to his COVID-19 case had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday, according to White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha.   The causative agent for Biden's COVID-19 infection is most likely the BA.5 Omicron variant, preliminary sequencing results showed.

Biden has been working in spite of suggestions from some American public health pundits that he should take more rest. In remarks delivered to a conference being held in Florida on Monday, Biden weighed in on the findings from the recent hearings held by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

On Monday, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska tweeted respectively that they had been infected with the virus.

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