U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus.
"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!," the President wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Trump had earlier announced that he will begin the quarantine process after his close aide Hope Hicks was tested positive for the virus.
A White House doctor told AP that Mr. Trump will continue carrying out duties ‘without disruption’ after contracting coronavirus.
The diagnosis marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to rise with less than four months before Election Day. And it stands as the most serious known public health scare encountered by any sitting American president in recent history.
Trump had consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened.
"I felt no vulnerability whatsoever,” he said told reporters back in May.
Mr. Trump is not the only major world leader known to have contracted the virus. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock by medical workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel self-isolated after a doctor who gave her a vaccination tested positive for the virus, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked from home after his wife fell ill.