By Arul Louis

New York, Oct 5 (IANS): US President Donald Trump remained hospitalised on Monday morning but his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that he was hopeful that Trump would be discharged from the military medical facility and return to the White House later in the day.

Meadows told Fox News on Monday morning, "We are still optimistic that he will be able to return to the White House later today."

A specialist in the medical team treating him had said on Sunday that Trump may be discharged from the hospital on Monday if his condition continues to improve. But even that will not free him to travel.

Meadows said that doctors would evaluate his condition later in the morning and Trump would then decide in consultation with the doctors whether to leave the Walter Reed National Medical Centre in Washington where he was flown in on Friday.

He said that he had spoken to Trump and that his condition has improved.

To show he was still at work, the White House released four orders issued by Trump on Monday morning.

One was about providing mental health assistance during the pandemic and the others were orders permitting companies to continue operating a petroleum pipeline from Canada to the US.

On Sunday evening, Trump got out of his presidential suite at the hospital and drove around the facility to greet supporters waiting outside with flags and signs of support.

The outing was criticised by some doctors as endangering his staff and others.

There was still concern about his condition after his doctor, Sean Conley, disclosed on Sunday that Trump had had two potentially serious temporary health incidents.

Conley said that Trump had "experienced two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation" along with high fever in one instance. He said that he was given oxygen at least once.

Trump is also being treated with the steroid drug Dexamethasone, which may indicate a more serious condition than generally described by his doctors.

Meanwhile, his Democratic Party challenger Joe Biden was headed on Monday to Florida to participate in two campaign events and a Town Hall meeting hosted by NBC TV.