A White House military aide — reportedly part of a unit working closely alongside President Donald Trump — has tested positive for novel Coronavirus, but Trump has not been infected, according to a spokesman on Thursday.
Trump deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said, “We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for Coronavirus”.
“The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health”, Gidley further added.
Trump, his immediate entourage and guests to the White House are regularly given tests that provide results within about 15 minutes.
On March 24, President Trump’s wife and First Lady, Melania Trump had tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
Earlier, the president had also tested negative for the deadly virus.
The president has steadfastly refused to wear a mask in public, as do his top officials, although the practice is encouraged by his own government guidelines
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife both tested negative for the virus earlier.
On Thursday, the United States recorded 2,448 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 75,543, according to the latest real-time tally reported by Johns Hopkins University.
The country — hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities — has now confirmed a total of 1,254,750 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.