US Vice-President Kamala Harris is the first woman to be given presidential powers briefly due to the current President, Joe Biden, undergoing a health check.

President Biden will transfer power to Vice-President Harris while he is placed under anaesthesia for a routine colonoscopy on Friday. Harris will take control of the US military and nuclear weapons temporarily.

The medical examination will be Biden's first health check as president and will take place the day before his 79th birthday. He last undertook a health check in December 2019 as the oldest US President to take office. His doctor released a medical report stating that he was "fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency" and described him as "healthy [and] vigorous".

The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: "The vice-president will work from her office in the West Wing during this time." Psaki explained that the temporary transfer of power was nothing new and that it was routine under the US Constitution. She used George Bush as an example: "As was the case when President George W Bush had the same procedure in 2002 and 2007."

The White House announced that they would share a written summary publicly of Biden's physical later on Friday afternoon, local US time.