Pence is safe; staffer ‘scared’ to go to WH

WASHINGTON: US vice-president Mike Pence is fine and will be at work on Monday, his spokesperson said, trashing reports that he was in self-quarantine after a close aide had tested positive for the coronavirus.

However, a senior official has said that the White House - seen by many as America’s safest workplace - has become a “scary” place to work after a number of cases were reported recently.

“Vice-president Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House medical unit and is not in quarantine,” Devin O’Malley said in a statement.

With two staffers testing positive for the coronavirus and with three top members of US President Donald Trump’s task force going into self-quarantine, the White House is a place where “it is scary to go to work”, according to Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to Trump who works at the White House, CBS reported.

Covid-19 deaths in the US went up by 731 over the last 24 hours, in what is possibly the lowest singleday toll in weeks.