Bethesda (United States) (AFP)

US President Donald Trump appeared for the first time publicly on Saturday with a mask, which has become an object of passionate political debate in the United States as much as a bulwark against the soaring Covid-19.

The mask that Donald Trump sported was midnight blue and wore, engraved on one of its corners, the golden coat of arms of the American presidency.

The republican billionaire had to be reduced to appearing with his face covered since he visited on Saturday evening soldiers wounded in combat at the Walter Reed hospital in Bethesda (Maryland), in the suburbs of Washington.

"I will probably have a mask," said the American president a few moments earlier when he left the White House, justifying this gesture by the circumstances.

"When you speak with soldiers who have just come out of the operating table," he said, "I think it is very good to wear a mask." "I have never been against masks, but I am convinced that it depends on the time and place," he added.

- Recommended from April -

Since the beginning of March and the appearance of the first restrictions against the cornavirus, Donald Trump had carefully avoided showing himself in public with a mask.

The President even contributed to making this object, the wearing of which is recommended by the American health authorities, a subject of political litigation in highly polarized America.

The refusal to wear the mask is often seen in one part of society as an affirmation of one's individual freedom in the face of recommendations from national and international authorities.

Symbol of these divisions, the American president had held a campaign meeting on June 20 in the city of Tulsa (Oklahoma) in front of thousands of supporters not protected by a mask. Local authorities have since noted a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.

He also repeatedly mocked his Democratic opponent for the presidential election on November 3, Joe Biden who, for his part, scrupulously respects the advice of doctors. He limits his movements and systematically appears with his face covered.

The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had issued a national recommendation for the mask at the beginning of April.

But Donald Trump immediately stood out, claiming that he was tested almost daily for cornonavirus, as were all those who approached him.

The pressure has been very strong in recent days for the Republican President to send a signal in favor of the wearing of masks, because the United States is losing control of the epidemic with a number of cases of Covid-19 exploding, especially in southern states like Florida and Texas.

The United States recorded nearly 65,000 new cases on Friday, especially in states ruled by Republicans who had lifted the containment and restrictions measures taken in March faster than others.

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 3.2 million cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the country, as well as nearly 135,000 dead, the heaviest toll in the world.

© 2020 AFP