Australian official who met with Ivanka Trump and William Barr last week has COVID-19

Peter Dutton and William Barr — (Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton announced Friday that after waking up with a sore throat and fever, he has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus and has checked into a hospital in Brisbane, according to local health policy. "I feel fine and will provide an update in due course," he said in a statement. Dutton met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other Cabinet ministers on Tuesday, but Morrison said that, on the advice of the country's deputy chief medical officer, he and the other 20 Cabinet ministers do not "need to self-isolate."

Last week, Dutton flew to the United States to meet with the security ministers of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — the U.S., Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. While in Washington, Dutton also met last Friday with President Trump's daughter and senior White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Attorney General William Barr, among other officials.

"Dutton is the latest in a string of foreign dignitaries" who met with Trump or people close to him in recent days, before testing positive for the coronavirus, The New York Times notes. The White House says Trump has not been tested for COVID-19. "New Zealand's interior minister," The Guardian reports, "has decided to self-isolate, and will be tested for coronavirus on Saturday, after she also met Dutton in the U.S."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.