Top Pentagon official tests positive for Covid following meeting with acting defense secretary

‘We have and are continuing to conduct further contact tracing of DoD personnel,’ Pentagon says

Anthony Tata, who is serving as the undersecretary of defense tested positive for the disease after meeting with Lithuanian Minister of Defense Raimundas Karoblis (CNN)

A senior Pentagon official and the Lithuanian minister of defense have both tested positive for coronavirus following a meeting that the acting defence secretary attended.  

Anthony Tata, who is serving as the undersecretary of defense tested positive for the disease after meeting with Lithuanian Minister of Defense Raimundas Karoblis on Friday, Bloomberg first reported.

"Mr Tata was tested today and has tested positive for Covid-19 on two successive tests. He will isolate at home for the next 14 days in accordance with Center for Disease Control protocols," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.

Mr Karoblis, who later tested positive for coronavirus, met with Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Tata and the secretaries of the Army and Air Force on Friday and the secretary of the Navy on Monday.

“All have been tested since their meetings,” the statement read, but declined to specify the outcome of the tests.

“We have and are continuing to conduct further contact tracing of DoD personnel who have had close contact with the Lithuanian delegation or Mr Tata, and are taking appropriate precautions in accordance with Cwentres for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) guidelines,” Mr Hoffman said.

The department will continue contact tracing and conducting rapid testing for those who came in contact with the delegation as deemed necessary based on CDC protocols, according to Mr Hoffman.

“Additional necessary testing for individuals who had contact with Mr Tata is ongoing. We will report additional positive cases as appropriate," he said.

Bloomberg reported that two people familiar with the matter said Mr Tata was screened for the virus at the military’s Walter Reed hospital just outside of Washington, where President Donald Trump was admitted following his coronavirus diagnosis in October.

Mr Hoffman said that both Mr Miller and each of the service secretaries are not quarantining as he said that officials adhered to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and had been tested.

A number of Trump administration officials have become infected with coronavirus since the pandemic gripped the country including: White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House political director Brian Jack and and Trump campaign advisers David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski.

Mr Tata is performing the duties of under secretary of defense for policy after President Donald Trump made a number of staffing changes at the Pentagon last week.

James Anderson, who had been acting undersecretary, resigned last week, shortly after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper.