President Donald Trump says his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for Covid-19.
The president wrote in a tweet: "Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!"
Mr Giuliani, who has been leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the 2020 election results, is the latest person in the president's inner circle to be infected.
The president and his team have been criticised for shunning safety guidance. Mr Trump was ill in October.
Mr Giuliani, 76, has been taken to the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC, according to US media reports.
In a tweet, the former New York mayor thanked well-wishers for their messages, and said he was "recovering quickly".
His son, Andrew Giuliani, who works at the White House and tested positive for the virus last month, tweeted that his father was "resting, getting great care and feeling well".
It is not clear if Mr Giuliani is experiencing symptoms or when he caught the virus.
Nearly 14.6 million people have been infected with Covid-19 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 281,234 people have died - the highest figures of any country in the world.
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On Sunday, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator, criticised the Trump administration for flouting guidelines and peddling "myths" about the pandemic.
"I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don't work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity," Dr Birx told NBC.
"This is the worst event that this country will face," she said.
Since the 3 November election, the lawyer has travelled the country as part of unsuccessful efforts to overturn Mr Trump's election defeat. During many of his events, he was seen without a face mask and ignoring social distancing.
Last Thursday he travelled to Georgia where he repeated unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud at a Senate committee hearing about election security.
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Dozens of people in Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October. Mr Giuliani's son Andrew, a White House aide, had the virus last month.
Boris Epshteyn, another Trump adviser, tested positive shortly after appearing alongside Rudy Giuliani at a news conference on 25 November.
Others include the president's chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, along with his wife Melania and sons Donald Jnr and Baron.
Mr Trump's own diagnosis and hospital stay upended his campaign for a second term in office, less than a month before he faced Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Mr Trump has refused to concede defeat, insisting without evidence that it was stolen or rigged. Attorney General Bill Barr said last week his department has not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the result.
Mr Biden will be sworn in as president on 20 January.
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The scientist in charge of the US push for a Covid-19 vaccine says there is "light at the end of the tunnel".
Moncef Slaoui said he hoped the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could give the go-ahead to a vaccine when it meets this week.
But for life to get back to normal by the spring, Americans still needed to follow safety measures, he added.
The US has seen record infections in recent days, with a daily death toll of more than 2,000.
The latest surge in cases is putting strain on hospitals, with large parts of the state of California set to enter new lockdown restrictions on Sunday.
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States are also preparing to distribute a vaccine, with possible approval approaching. The FDA is meeting to discuss the UK-approved vaccine, made by Pfizer, on Thursday and will discuss approval of a second vaccine, made by Moderna, on 17 December.
"It's a very important and deep process that the FDA is taking," Dr Slaoui told CBS News on Sunday.
Dr Slaoui heads up Operation Warp Speed, the US government's programme to rapidly produce and delivery Covid-19 vaccines.
"Based on the data that I know, I expect the FDA to make a positive decision. But of course, it's their decision," he said.
"The first vaccine shipment will happen on the day after the vaccine is approved."
The UK will begin its largest-ever vaccine rollout on Tuesday, after approving the Pfizer vaccine last week.
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'So much hope ahead'
Once FDA approval has been granted in the US, the vaccine is expected to be made available first to the country's million healthcare workers and three million elderly people living in long-term care homes. It is up to states to decide which groups should be prioritised next.
"I think we may start to see some impact on the most susceptible people probably in the month of January and February," Dr Slaoui told CBS.
"But on a population basis, for our lives to start getting back to normal, we're talking about April or May.
"Therefore, it's absolutely vital that everybody take comfort in the fact that we have light at the end of the tunnel, and find the energy in that to continue to wear our masks, distance, wash our hands... to make sure we're there by the spring to benefit from the vaccine."
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His appeal came amid concern many Americans are still not following safety guidance, despite rising cases.
Speaking to NBC, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator, criticised the Trump administration for flouting guidelines and peddling "myths" about the pandemic.
"I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don't work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity," Dr Birx said on Sunday.
"I want to be very frank to the American people. The vaccine is critical. But it's not going to save us from the current surge," she said.
"Only we can save us from this current surge."
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