"Anybody that has been hospitalised with COVID-19 will be medically disqualified and would need a service waiver to join the military", the spokesperson said.
This interim guidance updated Wednesday, and other relevant Pentagon documents include all medically disqualifying conditions that are subject to medical waiver by the services, he added.
"It is important to note that the policy does not say 'coronavirus survivors' – it is those that have been hospitalised", the spokesperson said.
The Department of Defence said on Wednesday that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US military has exceeded 5,000 with two deaths to the disease.
The United States has confirmed more than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases with more than 73,500 COVID-19-related deaths, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre.
