Donald Trump Tests Positive For Coronavirus

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have confirmed that they have tested positive for coronavirus and are isolating at the White House.

Taking to Twitter, the President wrote: "Tonight,@FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!"

Melania Trump also tweeted: "As too many Americans have done this year,@potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together."

Trump's physician, Sean Conley, released a statement saying, "This evening I have received confirmation that both President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 Virus.

"The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."

"Rest assured I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering," he added.

The two first went into quarantine after adviser Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus. The 31-year-old had traveled with the president and first lady aboard Air Force One to the first presidential TV debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday.

The president had previously informed his millions of followers on Twitter: "Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!"

Speaking on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, Trump confirmed that Hicks had tested positive and that him and the first lady were getting tested.

"She did test positive, I just heard about this. She tested positive. She's a hard worker. Lot of masks, she wears masks a lot but she tested positive. Then I just went out with a test. I'll see—you know, because we spent a lot of time—and the first lady just went out with a test also. So whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don't know," he said.

The president and his inner circle will now be required to quarantine for 15 days, an obstacle to his re-election campaign when there are just 31 days before voters head to the polls. The second presidential debate between Trump and Biden was due to take place on October 15 in Miami, Florida.

While the vast number of people infected have recovered from the virus, if the president did become medically incapacitated, power could be temporarily transferred to Vice President Mike Pence.

The news comes after Trump as long played down the severity of the outbreak and has often not been pictured wearing a mask. Speaking at a political dinner on Thursday evening just hours before the positive test, the president remarked, "I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight, and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country."

The wider picture

The novel coronavirus has infected over 34.2 million people across the globe, including 7.2 million in the U.S. Over a million people have died globally, with more than 207,000 deaths in the U.S., according to the latest figures from JHU.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates U.S. states with the most COVID-19 cases.