US Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday but is not considered to have been in “close” contact with President Joe Biden, her spokeswoman said.
Kamala Harris, 57, “has no symptoms, she will self-isolate and continue to work from her residence,” Kirsten Allen said in a statement.
“She has not been in close contact with the President or the First Lady due to their recent travel schedules” and she “will return to the White House when she tests negative,” she added.
Biden tested negative
Joe Biden spoke with Kamala Harris on Tuesday by phone to “check on her and make sure she has everything she needs while she quarantines at home,” according to a White House statement.
The 79-year-old Democratic president tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Several members of the Biden administration, such as the Minister of Justice and the President’s spokesperson Jen Psaki, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, have tested positive in recent weeks.
Rise in cases in the United States
President Biden, who received his second booster dose of the anti-Covid vaccine at the end of March, has regularly been considered not to be a “contact case” as defined by the American health authorities. “He is protected against the most serious forms of the virus,” said Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, in early April.
Kamala Harris’ husband, “Second Gentleman” Doug Emhoff, fell ill in March.
The United States is now again seeing an increase in the number of daily cases of Covid-19, linked to the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.