New Delhi, India

The United States state department announced on Wednesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has tested positive for COVID-19. The news comes just a week ahead of his visits to Europe and Morocco where he was scheduled to hold diplomatic meetings with various important leaders.

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Ned Price, the spokesperson for the state department, said that Blinken is currently suffering from mild symptoms, and he has not come in close contact with President Joe Biden in the last few days.

 â€œMr. Blinken, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, will work at home and looks forward to returning to the department and resuming his full duties and travels as soon as possible,” he told the media.

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According to a CNN report, Blinken was supposed to travel to Marrakesh on May 11 followed by a G7 meeting in Germany. However, there is no clarity on whether he will be able to travel to the meetings and all the close aids of the Secretary of State have been advised to undergo testing.

The last meeting attended by Blinken was with the Foreign Ministers Ann Linde of Sweden on Wednesday and Marcelo Ebrard of Mexico and they have been notified of the situation.

Blinken became the latest high-profile personality to test positive after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April. Earlier, two journalists also tested positive after the event.  

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Biden also attended the event but he has tested negative after tests were conducted on Tuesday.

The State Department also confirmed that Blinken has already received the second booster shot.

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