Trump doctor says president has tested negative for novel coronavirus
Test results out: US president has no novel coronavirus, says doctor
WASHINGTON: The doctor President Donald Trump has said the US leader has tested negative for novel coronavirus.
"This evening I received confirmation that the test is negative," Sean Conley, White House physician, said in a statement on Saturday.
Mr Trump underwent a test days after hosting a meeting at his Florida resort with a Brazilian delegation, some of whom have tested positive.
Fabio Wajngarten, an aide to the Brazilian president, was among those later confirmed to have the disease.
"One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the president remains symptom-free," Conley said.
Trump, aged 73, did not self-isolate after that meeting, saying he had no symptoms.
But after a barrage of further questions during a new conference at the White House, he said he would get tested.
He was checked on Friday, the White House physician said.
"I have been in daily contact with the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and White House Coronavirus Task Force, and we are encouraging the implementation of all their best practices for exposure reduction and transmission mitigation," Conley's statement said.
Official US advice is that people who have contact with a confirmed case should stay at home for 14 days.
The US has more than 2,700 confirmed cases, with 54 deaths.
On Friday, President Trump declared a national state of emergency to release $50bn (£40bn) to fight the spread of the virus.
Mar-a-Lago visit
Wajngarten, a press secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, posted a photograph of himself standing close to Mr Trump.
The Brazilian official tested positive several days after that visit.
Other Brazilians in Bolsonaro's entourage at Mar-a-Lago have since tested positive including lawyer Karina Kufa, Senator Nelsinho Trad and Brazil's ambassador to the US, Nestor Forster.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez — who also met Wajngarten during his US trip — said on Friday that he had been infected.
Suarez, 42, announced on Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, four days after the mayor attended a local event with a Brazilian government official who later tested positive for the virus.
Suarez became one of the first US elected officials to learn he had COVID-19 and enter isolation.
Suarez was one of several politicians, including Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Sen. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump, who interacted with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his staff during a visit to South Florida last week.
Suarez was in the same room as Wajngarten and Bolsonaro on two occasions Monday during the Brazilian delegation’s visit.