US President Donald Trump does not need testing for coronavirus despite having met with an aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who was found exposed to the virus later, according to the White House on Thursday.
Trump spokesman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, “The White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation… tested positive for COVID-19”.
White House said that last week while meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence “had almost no interactions with the individual”.
They “do not require being tested at this time,” she added.
In an unprecedented move, Trump announced the US will suspend all passenger travel from Europe, except the UK on Friday for the next 30 days to stop the spread of coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 4,500 lives, including 37 in America, and sent global markets into a tailspin.
Giving details of the travel ban, Department of Homeland Security in a statement said Trump signed a Presidential proclamation, which suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the US.
These countries, known as the Schengen area, include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
According to the World Health Organization report, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus outside the Chinese mainland, the epicentre of the outbreak, has increased to 1,130.
The new toll as of Wednesday morning was an increase of 258 deaths from the previous day.
Over 110 countries and regions have reported 118,326 confirmed cases, including 37,371 cases outside China.
On Wednesday, WHO said that the COVID-19 outbreak can be characterized as a “pandemic” as the virus spreads increasingly worldwide.
More than 4,000 people have died and over 110,000 have been infected worldwide, with the majority in China, though daily infections are now growing at a much faster pace abroad.
The novel Coronavirus outbreak has caused alarm as it has crossed global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.