US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
“Blinken tested positive for COVID-19 this afternoon via a PCR test. The Secretary is fully vaccinated and boosted against the virus and is experiencing only mild symptoms,” Price said. “He tested negative on Tuesday and again as recently as this morning.”
Blinken will isolate at home and maintain a “virtual work schedule,” the statement added. “He looks forward to returning to the Department and resuming his full duties and travels as soon as possible.”
The top US diplomat was in attendance of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, which President Joe Biden also attended, but the two haven’t seen each other in several days and Biden is not considered a close contact, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
Price told reporters later in the day that the State Department has “notified those individuals with whom he has been in close contact following CDC guidance” and that Blinken is working with the agency physician “to reconstruct close contacts in the appropriate period.”
Blinken held a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Monday.
