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US President Donald Trump may be resting up in hospital following his positive test result for Covid-19, but he still has the power to launch his nuclear arsenal as a briefcase containing the launch codes is reported to be at his side.

The 74-year-old politician announced on Friday that he and wife Melania Trump, 50, both tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.

Trump was subsequently transferred to the Walter Reed Hospital for treatment where government doctors have announced he is responding well to treatment.

While his wife Melania did not join him in hospital, is has been reported that the nuclear launch codes for America’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction have joined him at his bedside.

Photographers on Friday captured the moment the "nuclear Football" containing the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal were loaded on to the Marine One helicopter transporting the President to hospital.

The 45lb briefcase that contains the means to launch nuclear attacks is always kept close to any serving American president in the event they need to authorise the use of mass destruction weapons.

A president would be required to consult a list of options found inside a black book and his identity be verified by a plastic card nicknamed The Biscuit.

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  Donald Trump to stay in hospital but 'doing very well' after coronavirus test

Despite being struck with coronavirus and taking the option to recover in a hospital, the president would still be consulted in case one of the US’s 1,365 nuclear weapons needed to be launched.

A press conference on Sunday headed by Trump's private physician, Dr Sean Conley, revealed the politician is continuing to work while recovering in hospital.

The doctor declared he was responding “well” to treatment, did not require oxygen and was continuing to work while in the hospital.

The briefcase that contains the codes to launch nukes is nicknamed the “football” following an attack plan code-named “Dropkick” in the early use of the codes during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

A member of military personnel is always nearby POTUS to receive orders and relay to US Strategic Command HQ in Offutt Airbase in Nebraska.

A Navy officer was spotted carrying the sizeable briefcase aboard Marine One on Friday.

There are three bags in total – one with the President, one with the Vice President, and a third kept safe in the White House.

Military personnel are authorised to shoot anyone who attempts to make off with one of the bags.

• Donald Trump
• Melania Trump
• Military
• Coronavirus

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