Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s top aides, has tested positive for coronavirus, according to US media reports.
Ms Hicks, who serves as a counsellor to the president, reportedly tested positive for the disease on Thursday, the day after she travelled with the president to a rally.
The information was revealed by an anonymous administration official who spoke to news agency Bloomberg.
Hope Hicks worked on Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign from its inception
Reports said Ms Hicks is the closest aide to Mr Trump to test positive for the disease so far.
The 31-year-old has travelled with the president a number of times during the past week, including on presidential helicopter Marine One, and on Air Force One to Tuesday night’s first presidential debate.
There is no indication that Mr Trump has contracted the virus and it is not known whether he has been tested since Ms Hicks’s diagnosis.
In a statement, White House spokesman Judd Deere said: “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 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 travelling,” he added.
Ms Hicks quit as White House communications director in 2018 but returned earlier this year as an adviser, working closely with the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
