United States President Joe Biden has tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the White House said on Monday. Biden was tested after a White House staff member contracted the infection earlier on Monday morning.
The unidentified staffer started experiencing Covid-19 symptoms on Sunday and his test results came back positive on Monday.
Issuing a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that the staffer was in proximity to President Biden for about half an hour aboard the Air Force One last Friday.
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The staffer was fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and had taken a booster shot too, Psaki said. The staffer had tested negative before boarding the aircraft, the White House press secretary added.
President Joe Biden, who is also fully vaccinated and has taken the booster dose, tested negative for Covid-19 on Sunday with a routine rapid test, Psaki also said, adding Biden again tested negative after he underwent a PCR test.
“He’ll (Joe Biden) be tested again for infection on Wednesday, but will continue with his daily schedule without quarantining, following CDC guidance for vaccinated people,” Psaki said in the statement on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}“He’ll (Joe Biden) be tested again for infection on Wednesday, but will continue with his daily schedule without quarantining, following CDC guidance for vaccinated people,” Psaki said in the statement on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}Last month, another White House aide who accompanied Biden to international summits in Europe in October tested positive for Covid-19. However, Biden himself tested negative.
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The United States, which is the worst-hit country from the coronavirus disease pandemic, has so far recorded 52,059,667 cases and 828,836 deaths. It is now reeling unde the Omicron variant, which currently accounts for 73% of new infections in the country.
On Monday, an unvaccinated man from the state of Texas died due to Omicron, the first known death across the United States.
Since the end of June this year, the Delta variant of Covid-19 was the main reason for the surge in cases in the US. According to data presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as recently as the end of November, more than 99.5 per cent of coronaviruses were Delta.
(With agency inputs)