After disappearing for more than a week, Donald Trump’s top health officials tasked with combating the US’s worsening coronavirus outbreak appeared with the president during a White House press conference on Friday.

Drs Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, two of the nation’s top infectious disease experts, stood behind Trump as he and members of the White House coronavirus taskforce, including the defense secretary, Mark Esper, and health and human services secretary, Alex Azar, provided updates on vaccine development.

The doctors were two of only a few participants to wear masks. They did not speak. In the press briefing, Trump provided an optimistic timeline of “the end of the year” for a coronavirus vaccine to be approved. But that appeared inconsistent with Fauci who has said 12-18 months is a best-case scenario.

The president then voiced optimism that schools could reopen by fall, asserting: “Vaccine or no vaccine, [the country is] back.” He shot down concerns about students and teachers bringing the virus home , saying he was “concerned about everything”.