A top aide to US Vice-President Mike Pence has tested positive for COVID-19 one day after another White House staff member was diagnosed with the virus.

Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller tested positive on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump’s valet, the BBC reported.

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The White House has begun daily testing for Pence and Trump, and has claimed to be taking “every single precaution to protect the president”.

The US death toll is now over 76,000 and states are beginning to reopen.

Six members of Pence’s team were abruptly taken off his plane, Air Force 2, after it was held on the tarmac outside Washington, DC for over an hour on Friday, as he prepared to travel to Iowa to meet religious leaders.

The president has made it clear that he does not like the way that a mask looks on him.

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.

Trump and the other officials at the White House want to give people the impression that the health crisis is under control and that soon the economy will be on back on track.

The United States continues to remain the worst affected nation due to COVID-19 outbreak followed by Spain, Italy, UK, France, Russia and China.