A US Naval officer who serves as one of Donald Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus. The unnamed officer’s test result was shared by CNN on Thursday morning, with President Trump himself reported to be ‘upset’ after being told the news on Wednesday evening.

The White House said 73 year-old President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have all since tested negative for coronavirus. Spokesman Hogan Gidley said: ‘We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive. The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health.’

CNN reported that the valet, who is part of an elite military unit that works closely with the president and his family, first began displaying symptoms of Covid-19 on Wednesday morning. A source told them that news of the diagnosis was ‘hitting the fan’ in the West Wing of the White House. It is unclear if President Trump may have been in close contact with the valet while they were asymptomatic, with scientists warning that infected people can pass on the disease to others for days before they begin to show any symptoms themselves.

President Trump, Vice President Pence and other White House staffers are having weekly coronavirus tests using an Abbott Labs rapid test, which is taken via a nasal swab, and provides a result in around 15 minutes. The president is a self-declared germaphobe, but faced an earlier Covid-19 scare after meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his aides at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida during March.

One of those aides subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, with Bolsonaro himself also reportedly diagnosed with coronavirus. The Brazilian leader subsequently denied that rumor, amid growing fury in his home country over his repeated downplaying of the pandemic.

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Covid-19 is known to have infected over 1.2million Americans, and killed close to 75,000. Older sufferers are far more likely to suffer serious or even deadly complications from the virus than younger people who get it.

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