RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel Tests Positive for Coronavirus, Week After Trump Meeting

The chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Ronna McDaniel, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The New York Times tweeted the news on Friday afternoon citing multiple sources, hours after President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he and his wife, Melania, had been diagnosed with the illness.

Mike Reed, spokesperson for the RNC, told The Hill on Friday: "After a member of her family tested positive for COVID-19, the chairwoman was tested for the virus. On Wednesday afternoon, she got confirmation she was COVID-19 positive."

McDaniel was last in contact with the president on 25 September, the RNC said. "She has been at her home in Michigan since last Saturday," the spokesperson added.

McDaniel is the latest person close to Trump to have the virus. White House adviser Hope Hicks appears to have been the first among the Trump team to test positive.

Others who had been in close contact with the president have tested negative, including his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

Earlier on Friday, a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence said he and his wife, Karen Pence, had also tested negative.

This story is developing.