Senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump met Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton several days before he tested positive for coronavirus.
Peter Dutton said in a statement that he woke up on the morning of 13 March "with a temperature and sore throat" and was "subsequently tested for COVID-19". Dutton was informed by Queensland Health that his tests returned positive in the afternoon.
Dutton had a meeting with Attorney General William Barr, Ivanka Trump, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Joe Grogan in the US less than a week ago.
Yesterday 🇦🇺 Home Affairs @PeterDutton_MP joins @IvankaTrump, Attorney General Barr & our five eyes partners 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇨🇦🇳🇿 to fight online child exploitation. We heard from 9 brave survivors & announced principles that technology companies should implement to protect children online pic.twitter.com/3ifeJnGJPI
— Australia in the US 🇦🇺🇺🇸 (@AusintheUS) March 6, 2020
On 12 March, Brazilian Communications Secretary Fabio Wajngarten tested positive for the coronavirus just days after taking part in meetings with Donald Trump. Given that Wajngarten posted a picture of himself standing next to Trump on 8 March, concerns have emerged online about the US leader's COVID-19 status.
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham has responded to the concerns, saying that US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had almost no interactions with the infected member of the Brazilian delegation they received in Florida and do not need to be tested for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
On 11 March, the World Health Organisation classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. So far, the total number of confirmed cases worldwide has surpassed 135,000, with a death toll of over 4,900. More than 69,000 patients have recovered from the disease.
