Virginia-based Marine tests positive for new coronavirus, Pentagon says

A U.S. Marine assigned to Fort Belvoir, Va., tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, according to the Department of Defense.

The service member, who recently returned from overseas where he was on official business, is being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, said a statement issued Saturday evening.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been briefed on the situation and the White House has been notified, the statement said.

Almost two dozen U.S. soldiers in Norway for a large-scale exercise are in quarantine isolation after possibly encountering a Norwegian service member who tested positive for the coronavirus, the Marine Corps said Friday.

The U.S. soldiers are among the roughly 1,500 personnel from the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy in Norway participating in Exercise Cold Response 20, slated to run through March 18.

The Norwegian service member and the 23 soldiers were training at Skjold Garrison in the Troms region of Norway, the Marine Corps said in a statement.

The soldiers, with the 500th Engineer Support Company, 15th Engineer Battalion, based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, have not shown any signs or symptoms of the virus and were put in isolation “as a precautionary measure,” the Marine Corps said.