US Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris halts travel plans after two campaign staff test COVID-19 positive

Washington DC: Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Thursday cancelled travel plans till next Monday after two people associated with Joe Biden's Presidential campaign tested positive for coronavirus.

While speaking remotely at a campaign event Kamala Harris said, "I was supposed to be with you in person today and other things happened... The last time I saw them was seven days ago. I've had many tests now and they are all negative and I am fine. I'm good."

Harris had planned an aggressive travel schedule in the run-up to the November 3 presidential election between her running mate Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Harris said she would be back campaigning physically next Monday.

Kamala Harris was scheduled to appear in North Carolina on Thursday, a competitive battleground state where early voting just started and where President Donald Trump is due to campaign as well.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the United States particularly hard, killing more people than any other country, and upending the 2020 presidential race.

The campaign informed that it learned late on Wednesday that Harris' communications director, Liz Allen, and a flight crew member had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Both had traveled with the Democratic senator during a campaign trip in Arizona on October 8. Harris wore a mask during the flight she shared with Allen and the flight crew member, who both tested negative before and after the flight.

The campaign manager Jen Dillon in a statement said that Kamala Harris will return to in-person campaigning on Monday, October 19.

"This is the sort of conduct we have continuously modelled in this campaign. Neither of these people have had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results," she said.

Kamala Harris has taken two PCR tests for COVID-19 recently, the latest one on Wednesday, and all were negative. According to the campaign, she was on a flight with both individuals, but wore a mask and never approached them closer than six feet for more than 15 minutes.