Donald Trump and his wife Melania have tested positive for coronavirus, injecting new uncertainty into the turbulent US election campaign and sending officials scrambling to discover who else in the president’s orbit may be infected.
President Trump announced in a tweet early Friday that he and his wife Melania have both tested positive for the coronavirus. “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately,” he wrote. “We will get through this TOGETHER!”
The news came just hours after it was reported that Hope Hicks, a close adviser to Trump who traveled with him aboard Air Force One several times this week, had tested positive.
Shortly after Trump’s tweet, U.S. stock futures moved sharply lower with Dow futures falling more than 500 points at one point. Dow were down nearly 500 points just ahead of the open Friday.
Trump is now the most powerful figure to come down with Covid-19. Previously, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had tested positive for coronavirus and survived, as did Britain’s Prince Charles.
Meanwhile, as at the moment of filing this report, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reportedly sent a message of sympathy to the U.S. president and the first lady. State media in China said Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan had wished the presidential couple a quick recovery from Covid-19.
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