US President Trump, wife Melania test positive for COVID-19

Washington: US President Donald Trump and First lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. Earlier, senior aide Hope Hicks tested positive for the deadly virus.

Hicks travels regularly with the president on Air Force One and, along with other senior aides, accompanied him to Ohio for the presidential debate on Tuesday and to Minnesota for a campaign event on Wednesday.

Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020

Trump has come under sharp criticism for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States alone.

The president has touted his management of the crisis. He and his staff regularly do not wear masks, and Trump has denigrated people who wear them regularly.

At the White House, people who are around Trump, including some reporters, get tested on a regular basis.

But the White House did away with regular temperature checks for everyone who enters the complex months ago and people who are tested for the virus interact with others on the White House campus who are not.