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CANBERRA, Australia – Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.

The man who almost became prime minister of Australia in a leadership spill in August 2018 which toppled then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is now in quarantine. In the leadship vote Button lost out to current Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“This morning I woke up with a temperature and sore throat. I immediately contacted the Queensland Department of Health and was subsequently tested for Covid-19. I was advised by Queensland Health this afternoon that the test had returned positive,” he said in a statement.

Earlier today, Dutton did not attend his usual Today Show interview due to a “stomach bug.”

Dutton had recently returned from a tour of the United States.

During his visit, the minister met with officials from the U.S., the UK, Canadian and New Zealand in Washington on 6 March.

Australia has reported 156 positive cases of the virus. Australian authorities expect the virus to spread faster after the onset of the Southern Hemisphere winter.

WHO has declared the novel coronavirus as a pandemic with over 130,000 confirmed cases globally and more than 4,600 deaths as per the latest data.

(ANI/Big News Network)