Health

Senior White House aide Stephen Miller latest to test positive for COVID-19

Washington DC, Oct 6 (efe-epa).- Stephen Miller, a top policy adviser to the United States president, announced on Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Over the last 5 days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday. Today, I tested positive for COVID-19 and am in quarantine,” Miller said in a statement.

Miller had returned to the White House on Tuesday after several days of working from home, and tested positive, CNN reported.

The immigration hardliner is the latest of around two-dozen people linked to the White House to return a positive test in recent days.

Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s closest aides, was the first to announce that she had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

On Friday, it was Trump and first lady Melania’s turn to reveal that they were COVID-19 positive.

Since then there has been a stream of cases that have included Trump’s adviser Nicholas Luna, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and four other members of the president’s team.

Republican senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and vice commandant of the Coast Guard, Charles Ray, have also tested positive.

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Mark Milley, vice-chairman Gen John Hyten and other top Pentagon officials are now in quarantine after Ray was diagnosed.

Although it is difficult to determine the origin of the outbreak, most of those infected attended a Sep. 26 event in the White House garden for the presentation of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, almost all of them without masks.

Other people in the circle who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 include Trump’s campaign director Bill Stepien, the head of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, University of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, Pastor Greg Laurie and three reporters.

Trump, who after leaving Walter Reed military hospital on Monday urged people not to be afraid of the virus, said on Tuesday on Twitter that he intends to participate in next week’s leaders’ debate against Democratic presidential nominee in Miami, Florida. EFE-EPA

at/pd/tw

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