White House to test all who come near Trump for virus

Announcement follows Trump's announcement that he took second coronavirus test, which he said came back negative

WASHINGTON: Anyone who comes near US President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be subjected to testing for the novel coronavirus, the White House reportedly announced Friday.

"As the Physician to the President and White House Operations continue to protect the health and safety of the president and vice president, starting today anyone who is expected to be in close proximity to either of them will be administered a COVID-19 test to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a widely-reported statement.

Trump said Thursday he had taken a second coronavirus test, which he said came back negative.

The type of test that was administered was a new rapid variant and results were reported back in 15 minutes.

The US is the country that has the most confirmed coronavirus cases with 261,438, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In all, 6,921 people have died and 9,428 have recovered.