Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for coronavirus

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - Hope Hicks, one of US President Donald Trump's closest aides, tested positive Thursday for the novel coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said there was no indication that Trump has contracted the virus.

The White House advisor joined the president during his flight aboard Air Force One to and from Cleveland, Ohio for Tuesday's presidential debate and travelled with him to a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

"The President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously," White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.

“White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the President is traveling," he added.

Hicks is the latest White House official to contract disease, which has infected more than 7.2 million people in the US. Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller contracted the virus in May and recovered.

More than 207,000 people in the US have died from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University data.