BREAKING: Trump, Melania contracts Coronavirus as Biden tests negative

United States President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19, suspending the already tense US election, but was described by his doctor on Friday as feeling “well” and able to perform his duties while quarantining, TopNaija reports.

Trump, 74, first announced on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, had tested positive for the virus.

“We will get through this TOGETHER!” he wrote.

The extraordinary setback for Trump had immediate political consequences just 31 days before election day, forcing him to cancel campaign trips and adding new volatility to a contest already steeped in tension.

Trump’s challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, is well ahead in the polls and has made criticism of the Republican’s handling of the coronavirus — and frequent downplaying of the pandemic’s seriousness — a key issue.

Trump, in response, has been betting on an evermore aggressive schedule of campaign rallies around the country. The events, which he says prove his true political strength, bring together thousands of people, often without masks and sometimes in contravention of local rules.

That strategy is now in doubt, with the White House immediately cancelling a planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida later Friday.

It looked certain that Trump would have to cancel a trip scheduled for this weekend in Wisconsin, another battleground. He had also been expected to travel frequently next week, including longer distances to western states.

A second televised debate with Biden is scheduled for October 15.

Technically obese and in his 70s, Trump is in a higher-risk category for coronavirus patients.

Trump’s official physician, Sean Conley, said in a statement that the president and his wife “are both well at this time.”

“They plan to remain home at the White House during their convalescence,” he said. However, “I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.”

The shock news came right after one of Trump’s closest advisors, Hope Hicks, was reported Thursday to have come down with the virus.

Hicks, 31, travelled with Trump to Cleveland for his first debate with Biden on Tuesday. She was with him again for a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

With Hicks sharing Trump’s Air Force One plane and the even more cramped confines of the Marine One helicopter, speculation immediately erupted that Trump and possibly many others in his close entourage were exposed.

Despite Hicks’ diagnosis, Trump took another Air Force One trip on Thursday to meet with donors in New Jersey.

It was only late Thursday that Trump confirmed media reports about Hicks while giving an interview to Fox News. He announced that he had been tested but did not say whether he had received the results.

“You know I spend a lot of time with Hope, and so does the first lady,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, democratic nominee Joe Biden tested negative for the coronavirus Friday on the heels of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump testing positive.

Biden stood across the debate stage from Trump Tuesday night, but the two candidates never shook hands.

The Biden campaign sent out a statement from the candidate’s doctor confirming both Biden and his wife Jill were tested for COVID-19 and the virus ‘was not detected.’

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden stops to speak to members of the media as he walks out of the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, after pre-taping his speech for the Al Smith dinner. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Biden on Friday wished President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania a swift recovery from Covid-19.

“Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery,” Biden said as America and the world digested the bombshell news overnight that Trump has contracted the coronavirus.

“We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family,” Biden said on Twitter.