Miami mayor has virus after meeting Brazil delegation

WASHINGTON

The mayor of Florida's largest city announced Friday that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, one day after choosing to self-quarantine over concerns he was exposed to the virus during a meeting with a delegation from Brazil.

Francis Suarez confirmed his diagnosis in a statement provided to the local NBC 6 television network.

He said he is not currently experiencing symptoms and advised individuals who had shaken hands with him or been in close contact to self-quarantine for 14 days, the incubation period assessed by health officials for COVID-19.

Suarez announced Thursday that he would begin self-quarantining after being in close contact with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's communications director, who tested positive after visiting the U.S.

Suarez said in a brief one-minute video that he was in the same room as Bolsonaro and his aide, Fabio Wajngarten, stating at the time that he did "not believe that I personal contact with the infected person."

He said in the message that he would continue to work remotely.

Wajngarten also attended a dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend and was photographed standing with Trump and Bolsanaro and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

The White House said Wednesday that Trump has not been tested for coronavirus following the meeting with the Brazilian delegation.

Brazil has at least 150 confirmed coronavirus cases without fatalities so far, according to Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 123 countries and territories.

The global death toll is now nearly 5,000, with more than 132,500 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization, which declared the outbreak a pandemic.

A vast majority of those who become infected recover from the illness.