WASHINGTON: America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo was in quarantine Wednesday after being exposed to a person who has tested positive for Covid-19, the State Department said.

The 56-year-old Secretary of State “has been tested and is negative,” it said in a statement.

“In accordance with CDC guidelines, he will be in quarantine,” the State Department said. “He is being closely monitored by the Department’s medical team.”

The State Department said that for privacy reasons it was not identifying the person Pompeo came into contact with.

The US Secretary of State is fourth in the line of succession after the president following the vice president, speaker of the House of Representatives and president pro tempore of the Senate.

President Donald Trump was hospitalized for three days in October after contracting Covid-19. His wife, Melania, and son Barron, also caught the disease.