Top US General Mark Milley and other military leaders are self-quarantining after a senior Coast Guard official tested positive for coronavirus.
Admiral Charles Ray, vice commandant of the US Coast Guard, tested positive after experiencing mild symptoms.
Other officials were quarantining “out of an abundance of caution” after attending meetings with Adm Ray last week, the Pentagon said.
None of them had tested positive or exhibited symptoms, it added.
It is not known how Adm Ray contracted the virus, but officials told the Associated Press news agency it was not believed to be related to the outbreak affecting President Donald Trump and others at the White House, reports the BBC.
BBC partner CBS News reported that nearly all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – a body consisting of senior military officials who advise the US president – were now in quarantine after attending meetings with Adm Ray last week.
In addition to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen Milley, it said others in quarantine included the vice chief of staff, Army chief of staff, chief of naval operations, Air Force chief of staff, CyberCom commander, the Space Force chief, chief of the National Guard and deputy commandant of the Marine Corps.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters there had been “no change to the operational readiness or mission capability of the US Armed Forces.”
“Senior military leaders are able to remain fully mission capable and perform their duties from an alternative work location,” he said.
The Pentagon is conducting contact tracing related to last week’s meetings.
