Kamala Harris tests negative for Covid after White House announces Biden’s positive test

The White House said in a statement that the president is experiencing ‘very mild symptoms’

Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for Covid-19 shortly after the White House announced that US President Joe Biden had tested positive, according to vice president’s press secretary.

“This morning, Vice President Harris tested negative for COVID-19,” tweeted Kirsten Allen on Thursday afternoon, shortly after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden, who is screened for Covid-19 on a regular basis, had tested positive on Thursday morning.

“She was last with the President on Tuesday. She spoke to the President by phone this morning. The schedule will continue as planned. The Vice President will remain masked following the advice of the WH medical team,” added Ms Allen in her tweet.

Mr Biden is reportedly experiencing “mild symptoms” and is being treated with the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, the same oral antiviral pill that Dr Anthony Fauci used to treat the virus when he tested positive for Covid-19 last month.

Paxlovid was granted an emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last December for anyone over the age of 12 and who is at high risk for severe disease if they contract the virus.

The antiviral pill is not intended to reverse the virus, but rather prevent high-risk patients from getting so sick that they require hospitalisation.

The president will continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and will remain isolated while conducting “all of his duties fully during that time”, Ms Jean-Pierre added.

“He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence,” she said. “Consistent with White House protocol for positive COVID cases, which goes above and beyond CDC guidance, he will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative”.

Mr Biden has received two shots of vaccination in addition to two booster shots.

He is the most recent White House figure to test positive for the virus in recent weeks, following Dr Fauci who tested positive in June, and then in May several reporters and staffers from various news outlets tested positive following the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Mr Biden’s positive test arrives as the US is battling against an evasive new strain of the omicron variant, which is driving up Covid cases and hospitalisations across the country – in the past two weeks, cases have shot up 20 per cent nationwide – while deaths have hovered around 300 to 400 a day since April.