UPDATE, 0700 GMT:

It appears that the White House knew of the risk of Donald Trump’s positive test for Coronavirus more than 24 hours before his Twitter announcement.

Kaitlin Collins of CNN reports that the positive test of Trump’s aide and confidante Hope Hicks was confirmed on Thursday morning. Trump still proceeded with a political dinner in New Jersey on Thursday night.

On Friday afternoon, the Trump campaign announced that it was moving a weekend rally from LaCrosse, Wisconsin — ostensibly responding to objections, including from the Wisconsin Governor, that the city has been declared a “red zone” for Coronavirus.

About 30 minutes before Trump’s Twitter revelation, the US military scrambled warplanes off the American coast, as a sign of deterrence of any foreign powers seeking to exploit the situation.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Having denied or played down the threat of Coronavirus for more than eight months, Donald Trump tests positive.

So has his wife Melania, after they went into self-quarantine with news of the positive test of close Trump aide Hope Hicks.

The news came as the US death toll reached 207,789, with almost 850 fatalities on Thursday. The Trumps and Hicks join 7,277,759 confirmed cases.

On Thursday night, Trump insisted at a political dinner, “The end of the pandemic is in sight.” Hours later, he tweeted:

Neither the White House nor Trump said whether he, Melania, and Hicks are symptomatic or asymptomatic.

Trump said at the outset of the outbreak in February that deaths would be “close to zero”, and that fear of the virus was a Democratic “hoax”. He repeatedly insisted that the pandemic “is going to disappear”, and dismissed and belittled medical advisors, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who warned of the need for containment through the autumn and winter.

Trump has refused to wear a mask in public except on rare occasions, and on Tuesday night he belittled Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden for taking the protective measure.

Trump has also insisted on holding rallies, occasionally indoors, throughout the pandemic.

An indoor rally in Oklahoma in late June became a “superspreader” event, leading to hundreds of cases in the Tulsa area. Former GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain subsequently was killed by the virus, and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt tested positive.

With only 1/3 of the 20,000 seats filled in Tulsa, Trump temporarily suspended the gatherings, but resumed later in the summer and stepped up the appearances in the past month. Few in the audience have worn masks, and there has been no social distancing.

When Trump accepted the nomination on the final day of the Republican National Convention, he invited more than 1,000 supporters to the White House South Lawn, in crowded seating.

Trump has declared a weight of 243 pounds — obese even for his tall height — but may be heavier. He suffers from high cholesterol and takes little exercise apart from riding in a cart during his frequent rounds of golf. However, both in the 2016 campaign and through the Presidency, he has ensured that doctors declare he is “very good health”.