Bolsonaro aide who met Trump tests positive for Covid-19

A Brazilian government official who attended an official meeting at US President Donald Trump’s resort in Florida on Saturday and posted a photo of himself standing next to the president has tested positive for coronavirus, Brazilian officials said on Thursday.

In the photo posted on his Instagram account, Fabio Wajngarten, the communication secretary of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro , is standing next to Trump wearing a “Make Brazil great again” cap. Vice President Mike Pence was next to Trump.

Asked by Reuters News Agency before reports emerged about Wajngarten’s diagnosis, Brazil’s health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, said Bolsonaro would be monitored if Wajngarten tested positively.

Trump, meanwhile, said he was not concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus after reports surfaced about the Bolsonaro aide.

“Let’s put it this way: I’m not concerned,” Trump told reporters while meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office.

He said he had heard about the aide’s exposure but that “we did nothing very unusual”.

Trump also said he and Varadkar opted not to shake hands when the Irish leader arrived at the White House for the traditional St Patrick’s Day meeting.

“It’s a very strange feeling,” Trump said of not shaking hands.

Trump has been accused of initially downplaying the threat of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, he announced that he was banning travel to the US from most of Europe beginning on Friday.

There have been more than 126,000 cases of the virus worldwide since its outbreak late last year in China, and over 68,000 people have recovered.

China is the epicentre of the crisis, with most infections and deaths, followed by Italy, Iran and South Korea.

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