WASHINGTON:

US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president tweeted early Friday.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for Covid-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this together.

"Earlier on Thursday, Trump has said that he and the first lady Melania would quarantine themselves after one of their close aides tested positive for the deadly infection.Trump announced about putting himself in quarantine in a tweet late Thursday night after his close aide Hope Hicks was tested positive with COVID-19.

The development is likely to bring to a standstill his hectic election campaign.

Trump's positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks came down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week.
 

Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 200,000 people nationwide.

A wave of risk aversion swept markets on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19 and will isolate, weeks ahead of the elections.U.S. stock futures fell on the news EScv1NQc1 and Treasury yields dipped.

Analysts said the initial risk-off moves were a knee-jerk reaction. As European markets opened, the move in U.S. stock futures pulled back slightly.

Trump’s exposure could cause a new wave of market volatility as investors braced for the presidential election in November. How long the risk-averse moves will last depends on the extent of the infection within the White House, said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners.“We may have to wait until the end of the weekend for more clarity on the situation,” he said. “The reaction has been a bit excessive with U.S. stock futures. It doesn’t mean the U.S. administration is not able to function.”

“It will weigh on market today and early next week but will not induce a long-lasting correction if the infection is contained to Trump,” he added.Immediately after the news, the U.S. dollar index rose and the safe-haven yen made its biggest jump in more than a month, reaching 104.95 at 0553 GMT JPY=EBS.

Within 10 minutes, the dollar changed course and started falling. Versus a basked of currencies, it was at 93.759 by 0737 GMT.

The yen stabilised as European markets opened, at 105.185 at 0737 GMT. The Australian dollar, which serves as a liquid proxy for risk, recovered some losses against the U.S. dollar as the moves pulled back AUD=D3.

The euro was down 0.2% against the dollar, at $1.1721 EUR=EBS.
Germany's benchmark 10-year bond was down less than 1 basis point at -0.539% DE10YT=RR.

Oil fell, with Brent crude LCOc1 down 2.6% at $39.85 a barrel at 0724 GMT, after falling overnight and stabilising somewhat early in the European session.

Gold rose, as investors flocked to safer assets.

The impact on the U.S. elections is unclear. Even before news of Trump’s infection, markets had been more bearish after Washington failed to reach an agreement on a fiscal stimulus package to help the U.S. economy recover from the impact of coronavirus.

The last round of monthly U.S. unemployment data before the elections is due later in the session, although analysts say this has been relegated to secondary importance.
In a statement, Judd Deere, the Deputy White House Press Secretary said that the President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously.

“White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the President is travelling," Deere said.
Several White House staffers have tested positive with COVID-19 in recent months, including the National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary

Trump has come under sharp criticism for his response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States alone. The president has touted his management of the crisis.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has lambasted Trump for not having a clear national plan to tackle the pandemic. Biden, a former vice president, regularly wears a mask and has eschewed campaign events with large crowds. He is leading Trump in national polls.

Trump and his staff regularly do not wear masks, and Trump has denigrated people who wear them often. Health professionals say mask-wearing is one of the key things people can do to help prevent the spread of the virus.

At the White House, people who are around Trump, including some reporters, get tested on a regular basis.

But the White House did away with daily temperature checks for everyone who enters the complex months ago, and people who are tested for the virus interact with others in the White House campus who are not.

The White House said in a statement that Trump “takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously” and that it followed guidelines for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible.

Trump said he was surprised that Hicks had tested positive.

“She knows there’s a risk, but she’s young,” he said on Fox News.

Hicks returned to the White House earlier this year after a stint in the private sector. She served previously as White House communications director and as a spokeswoman for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.