Covid: Days before G20 summit, Joe Biden's wife tests positive

Days before US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit India for the G20 summit, his wife tested positive for Covid-19 infection.

Jill Biden tested positive on September 4 and is experiencing mild symptoms.

Joe Biden was also tested subsequently, but his results were negative.

White House officials said that the President would be tested regularly and also be under monitoring for symptoms.

The First Lady will continue to stay at her home on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, according to her communications director Elizabeth Alexander. News agency Associated Press reported that Jill Biden was originally scheduled to start the new school year Tuesday at Northern Virginia Community College, where she is a teacher.

The couple’s recent travel history includes last week’s trip to Florida, where the couple inspected the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia.

First Lady Jill Biden has previously tested positive for the virus, including one “rebound” case in August last year.

Jill Biden first tested positive for the virus on August 15, when she and her husband were vacationing in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

She isolated in the beach town until she received two negative tests and was cleared to meet the president in Delaware on Sunday. She then again tested positive days later.

Jill Biden, 72, and President Joe Biden, 80, have been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Also see: Modi, Biden bilateral talks scheduled on sidelines of G20 summit: White House

She had been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid, which has proven to be highly effective at preventing serious disease and death among those at highest risk from COVID-19.

(With AP inputs)