CORONAVIRUS | Captain Brett Crozier, who had commanded aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt until his recent removal by the Navy for sounding the alarm about a Covid-19 outbreak on board, has tested positive for the virus, Xinhua news agency reported, citing The New York Times.

The Times, citing Crozier's naval academy classmates, said Crozier exhibited symptoms before he was relieved of his duty on the warship Thursday.

Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said Sunday an investigation into Crozier's actions is ongoing.

"All the services at times relieve commanders without the benefit of an investigation upfront because they've lost confidence in them. It's certainly not unique to the Navy," he said on CNN's "State of the Union" programme.

The secretary also confirmed that there have been 155 positive tests among sailors on board the Roosevelt, that more than half of the crew have been tested, and that there have been no hospitalisations.

The Navy planned to evacuate 2,700 of the roughly 5,000 crew members on the vessel, leaving the rest on board to maintain the ship's operation.

As of Saturday, 1,548 service members have disembarked the ship, and The Times, citing local hotel association, said at least an additional 400 service members will be moved to Guam hotels Sunday.

Crozier sent a five-page internal letter earlier this week to higher-ranking officials in the chain of command, pleading for help from the Pentagon to contain a Covid-19 outbreak aboard the Roosevelt by transferring 90 percent of the crew onto Guam for quarantine. The ship now docks in Guam.

"We are not at war," the captain wrote in the letter, which was first made public by the San Francisco Chronicle. "Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset - our sailors."

Crozier's ousting was announced Thursday by acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who said the captain allowed "the complexity of his challenge with the Covid-19 breakout on the ship to overwhelm his ability to act professionally when acting professionally was what was needed the most at the time".

"In sending it out pretty broadly, he did not take care to ensure that it couldn't be leaked," Modly said. "And that's part of his responsibility."

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he supported Crozier's firing, adding "it was terrible what he did".

The Democrats, however, condemned the Navy. Democratic lawmakers in both the Senate and the House asked for a probe into the matter.

- Bernama

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