President Trump joins list of coronavirus-infected world leaders
President Trump has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and in doing so, he joins a growing list of world leaders who have previously contracted the disease.
Trump's planned rally in Sanford this evening has been canceled. Instead, the president and first lady are now in quarantine with the next presidential debate in Miami scheduled on October 14. There could be a chance it gets rescheduled or the president could take another COVID-19 test before the debate.
RELATED: President Trump and first lady test positive for COVID-19
Meanwhile, the press secretary for Mike Pence annonced Friday morning the vice president and second lady tested negative for coronavirus after Trump's positive result.
READ: VP Mike Pence, Karen Pence test negative for coronavirus, spokesman says
Since the start of the pandemic, at least seven major world leaders have tested positive for the virus, the most notable ones being Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Trump's age, 74, places him within a category of people deemed to be at the highest risk of severe complications from the virus.
"People in their 60s or 70s are, in general, at higher risk for severe illness," the CDC says on its website. "Severe illness means that the person with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they may even die."
BORIS JOHNSON
The British prime minister was the first major world leader confirmed to have COVID-19. He was moved to intensive care in April after his symptoms dramatically worsened a day after he was hospitalized for what were called routine tests. He was given oxygen but did not need a ventilator, officials said. He later expressed his gratitude to National Health Service staff for saving his life when his treatment could have "gone either way."
The White House got its first COVID-19 scare in early March when at least three people who later tested positive came in close proximity to the president at his private Florida club.
Dr. Sean P. Conley, the personal physician to Trump, said in a memo that both he and the White House medical team will "maintain a vigilant watch" on the president following his positive COVID-19 test.
"Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments," Conley added.
RELATED: Trump's Central Florida rally canceled after COVID-19 diagnosis
JAIR BOLSONARO
The Brazilian president announced his illness in July and used it to publicly extol hydroxychloroquine, the unproven malaria drug that he’d been promoting as a treatment for COVID-19 and was taking himself. For months he had flirted with the virus as he flouted social distancing at lively demonstrations and encouraged crowds during outings from the presidential residence, often without a mask.
JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ
The Honduras president announced in June that he had tested positive, along with two other people who worked closely with him. Hernández said he had started what he called the "MAIZ treatment," an experimental and unproven combination of microdacyn, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc. He was briefly hospitalized and released. He has added his voice to growing pleas for equitable access to any COVID-19 vaccine, asking the recent U.N. gathering of world leaders, "Are people to be left to die?"
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO
The president of Belarus, who dismissed concerns about the virus as "psychosis" and recommended drinking vodka to stay healthy, said in July he had contracted it himself but was asymptomatic. Belarus is one of the few countries that took no comprehensive measures against the virus. Other top officials in former Soviet states who were infected include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
ALEJANDRO GIAMMATTEI
The Guatemalan president said he tested positive for the virus in September. "My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches, it hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold," he said during a televised address. "I don’t have a fever, I have a bit of a cough." He said he’d be working from home.
JEANINE ANEZ
The virus drove the Bolivian interim president into isolation in July, but she said she was feeling well.
LUIS ABINADER
The newly elected president of the Dominican Republic contracted and recovered from COVID-19 during his campaign. He spent weeks in isolation before the country’s July election.
IRANIAN LEADERS
Iran, the epicenter of the Mideast’s initial coronavirus outbreak, has seen several top officials test positive. Among them are senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar. Cabinet members have tested positive, too.
INDIAN LEADERS
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, 71, recently tested positive but his office said he had no symptoms and was quarantined at home. Home Minister Amit Shah, the No. 2 man in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, was hospitalized for COVID-19 last month and has recovered. Junior Railways Minister Suresh Angadi last week was the first federal minister to die from COVID-19.
ISRAELI LEADERS
Israel’s then-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive in April and recovered. Litzman is a leader in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, which has seen a high rate of infection as many have defied restrictions on religious gatherings. The minister for Jerusalem affairs, Rafi Peretz, tested positive over the summer as cases surged nationwide and recovered.
SOUTH AFRICAN LEADERS
The country’s mineral resources and energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, and Labor Minister Thulas Nxesi were infected as cases surged in June and July.
SOUTH SUDANESE LEADERS
Vice President Riek Machar was among several Cabinet ministers infected.
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