U.S. housing secretary Carson tests positive for COVID-19: reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, U.S. news outlets reported, the latest victim in another coronavirus outbreak affecting the White House and top advisers to President Donald Trump.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development did not immediately return a request for comment on the reports.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who has frequently appeared at public events without wearing a mask, was diagnosed last week, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday, along with several other staffers.

Carson, Meadows, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Health Secretary Alex Azar and a number of other Trump Cabinet officials and top aides were at the White House for an Election night party on Tuesday.

Carson, 69, was diagnosed as positive early on Monday at Walter Reed Medical Center after experiencing symptoms, ABC News reported. He was not hospitalized.

The report cited Carson's deputy chief of staff as saying he was "in good spirits & feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery."

CNN and Fox News also reported Carson's positive test.

It was the latest reported outbreak of the illness at the White House since early October, when Trump tested positive and was hospitalized. A number of staff members, as well as Trump's wife and son, also tested positive.

Mnuchin has continued to test negative, according to a source familiar with the matter.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Daphne Psaledakis, Andrea Shalal; Editing by Franklin Paul and Dan Grebler)

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