Donald Trump has been slammed for having "the audacity" to leave hospital and telling Americans not to be afraid of COVID-19 as the country's death toll exceeds 210,000.
The US President has been receiving care at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland after being diagnosed with coronavirus on Friday.
Physician Dr Sean Conley said Trump has been doing "really well" but has been criticised for providing vague details into the President's condition.
On Tuesday morning, Trump announced he would be leaving the hospital.
"Feeling really good!" he said on Twitter.
"Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!"
Dr Conley wouldn't comment on Trump's tweet that people shouldn't "be afraid of COVID", but agreed it was safe for him to return to the White House, where a growing number of staff members have also tested positive.
But there has been backlash to the decision online with economist David Rothschild calling it "super irresponsible".
Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman agreed Trump's "irresponsibility is shocking".
"Leaving 1 of the best hospitals, having received drugs the average person doesn't have access to, going home w/ full medical staff, he has the audacity to say don't fear #COVID19 & he feels better than ever? THIS is our President?!"
Social media users have also criticised Trump for telling Americans: "Don't be afraid of COVID".
"Don't be afraid of COVID? Not every American has access to the top therapeutics and doctors with the most advanced equipment available to the President of the United States," physician Eugene Gu, MD tweeted.
"It's beyond irresponsible for the President of the United States to use his one experience with COVID-19 and extrapolate that to millions of people who are suffering. More than 200,000 Americans have already died. Many more are in peril and have every reason to take precautions."
Lawyer Seth Abramson agreed.
"Trump's tweet framing COVID-19 as no big deal—something you lick in two or three days, a mere annoyance—just slapped the face of every COVID-19 survivor and every family member of a COVID-19 victim.
"We've never had a president act so publicly and so flagrantly like a sociopath."
Bishop Talbert Swan summed it up, saying "210,000 could not be reached for comment".
According to Worldometers, 214,889 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States as of Tuesday morning.
The country has also reported 7,668,358 cases of the virus.
This comes after medical experts expressed outrage after Trump made a "surprise visit" to supporters on Monday.
The US President wore a face mask as he got into a car with secret service agents and completed a drive-by outside of the hospital.
But the excursion was slammed by Walter Reed physician Dr James Phillips.
"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days," he tweeted.
"They might get sick. They may die. For political theatre. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre. This is insanity."
American psychologists Alan Blotcky, Seth Norrholm wrote an article for The Independent where they said the car ride was the "last straw" and they believe Trump is no longer fit to be President.
"Once again, his political calculation was more important to him than protecting the nation," they wrote.
"Trump's lies and denials and refusal to follow the recommendations of public health experts have endangered millions of Americans unnecessarily. 210,000 lives have been lost because of the inaction and unfathomable behaviour of this president. His mishandling of the pandemic has been profoundly disturbing. How can he protect the American public when he chose not to do the right things to protect himself?"
