Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tests positive for coronavirus

U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows has contracted coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic.

Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year.

Meadows traveled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count.

He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago but was tested daily and maintained his regular work schedule.

The U.S. reported more than 121,000 new coronavirus cases Friday, the third day in a row the nation has recorded more than 100,000 new infections.

Infections are surging in all regions in the United States as the COVID-19 death toll continues to climb.

U.S. hospitalizations have significantly increased, forcing hospitals in Midwestern and Southern states to take urgent action to accommodate floods of new patients.

Midwestern states have been especially hard hit, with a record number of infections reported in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Since the surge in the U.S. began in mid-September, some states have periodically imposed piecemeal lockdown measures, including Maine, which has extended its mask- wearing requirement to apply to all public spaces.

Officials in Denver, Colorado, on Friday urged residents to stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to try to reduce a growing wave of coronavirus cases.

India’s health ministry said Saturday that it had recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases and nearly 600 coronavirus-related deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

India has a total of 8.4 million COVID cases, according to Johns Hopkins statistics. Only the United States has more cases, with its 9.7 million tally.