Washington D.C.: Ivanka Trump, the First Daughter and senior advisor to the United States’ President, worked from home on Friday “out of an abundance of caution” after she personally interacted an Australian official recently who tested positive for coronavirus infection, the White House said.
The White House medical staff has advised Trump that she does not need to self-quarantine, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere was quoted by The Hill, as saying.
According to media reports, Australian minister for home affairs Peter Dutton, on early Friday morning, was tested positive for COVID-19. Dutton traveled to Washington, last week and met Ivanka, Attorney General William Barr, and other officials on March 5.
“The White House is aware that Mr. Dutton tested positive for COVID-19. He was asymptomatic during the interaction,” Deere said in a statement.
“Exposures from the case were assessed and the White House Medical Unit confirmed, in accordance with CDC guidance, that Ivanka is exhibiting no symptoms and does not need to self-quarantine. She worked from home today out of an abundance of caution until guidance was given,” Deere continued.
Dutton participated in a news conference with Barr, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and ministers from the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand last Thursday. He later shared a photo of himself with Barr, Ivanka Trump, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and others.
Dutton said in a statement, on Friday, that he woke up in the morning with a temperature and sore throat and was tested for the coronavirus, which yielded a positive test result. He said he had been admitted to the hospital on the advice of the government’s health department.
However, Conway said on Friday that the White House medical staff advised Trump not the quarantine herself as she has not exhibited any symptoms of the viral disease.