THE VICE PRESIDENT of the US, Mike Pence, is not in quarantine and has tested negative to Covid-19 after a close aide was confirmed to have been infected, his spokesman said yesterday.

Pence will go to work at the White House today, spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement following some US media reports that Pence would be self-isolating.

“Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine,” O’Malley said.

“Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow.”

Pence’s spokeswoman Katie Miller tested positive, it was revealed on Friday, while President Trump’s valet also tested positive last week.

It was reported previously that an administration official said Pence was voluntarily limiting his exposure to other people.

Pence has led the White House coronavirus task force for more than two months. White House officials had confirmed on Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of President Donald Trump’s valets had tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide as spokeswoman Katie Miller, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force, placed himself in quarantine over the weekend.

So did his fellow doctors, Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

President Donald Trump, Pence and many others at the White House are tested daily for Covid-19.

The US, which has recorded 79,500 deaths in the coronavirus outbreak, has also suffered its steepest job losses in history, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April.

With reporting by Press Association